Yesterday at 06:30
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur believes the "extreme" way
Lewis Hamilton conducts himself with the media "only makes things
worse" when he or the team are struggling for performance. The
seven-time F1 drivers' champion drew considerable attention at the
recent Hungarian Grand Prix for self-flagellating remarks he made
to the press, in which he labelled himself "absolutely useless" and
suggested the Italian team needed a new driver. Addressing those
kinds of comments from the British driver and his disappointing
start to life at the Scuderia, his boss feels the "self-critical"
Hamilton is "too hard" on both the SF-25 and himself. Although he
has been comprehensively beaten in his head-to-head record with
Charles Leclerc over the first 14 rounds of his Ferrari tenure,
Vasseur insists the deficit is not as large as the two drivers'
respective results suggest . Despite Hamilton having yet to score a
grand prix podium for the Prancing Horse, whilst his team-mate has
racked up five this campaign, the Frenchman maintains that the
40-year-old's current performance shortfall is no cause for
concern. "Stay calm," Vasseur told Auto, Motor und Sport when asked
how Ferrari can help make Hamilton feel comfortable in his new
surroundings "Build on the fact that he has already taken the first
step. Don't let things like what happened in Budapest get you down.
"Lewis is very self-critical. He is always extreme in his
reactions. Sometimes he is too hard on the car, sometimes on
himself. "He wants to get the most out of himself and everyone in
the team. You have to calm him down and explain to him that in Q2
he was only a tenth of a second behind the driver who later took
pole position. That's no big deal." However, the 56-year-old did
acknowledge that those same extreme reactions, when played out
initially to the press, can cause problems and proliferate negative
narratives surrounding the Maranello-based squad. "The message he
sends out only makes things worse," Vasseur said. "Most of the
time, he's only that extreme with the press. "By the time he comes
into the briefing room, he's usually calmed down again. That's just
his way. For me, it's no big deal. He demands a lot. From others,
but also from himself. I can live with that." He concluded his
point by comparing it to how Nico Hulkenberg operated when the
German raced for Vasseur before both reached F1. "Nico Hülkenberg
was the same when he drove for me in Formula 3," he added. "He
demanded an awful lot from the team. But he was also there every
morning at 6.30 a.m."