Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur explains that Lewis Hamilton’s pace has improved recently – now it’s all about a clean execution of the weekends
Looking at the bare figures, Lewis Hamilton continues to struggle at Ferrari. His record since the end of the Formula 1 summer break: a retirement after a crash in Zandvoort, sixth place in Monza, and most recently eighth place in Baku. Hamilton’s results are therefore no better than before the break, but according to Frederic Vasseur, the results do not tell the whole story. In fact, the Ferrari team boss is optimistic, emphasizing: “We are now on the right track.”
After Hamilton’s pace had already been ‘good’ in Zandvoort and Monza, he also showed “good pace” again in practice in Baku. The record world champion even finished Friday in Azerbaijan with the fastest time of the day.
Q1 on Saturday also went well, according to Vasseur, but a weak 12th place in Q2 ruined the rest of the weekend, he said. “If he’s on the front row, I honestly believe he’ll finish on the podium,” said Vasseur.
Vasseur: Norris wasn’t any faster in the race either
Instead, Hamilton started the race from P12 after Ferrari imposed a strategy on him in qualifying against his will, which he believed was wrong. “We didn’t have the right tires on in the end,” Hamilton explained.
And because overtaking was so difficult in Baku over the weekend, he only managed to move up to P8 on Sunday, even though Hamilton’s race was “decent,” according to Vasseur, who explains: “The best comparison we have was Norris.”
The Brit started from P7 “and finished [right] in front of Lewis,” Vasseur recalls. So while the McLaren didn’t make up a single position in the race, Hamilton at least moved up four places, which the team boss considers positive.
Nevertheless, Vasseur also knows that everything has to go right for Ferrari at the moment in order to achieve a top result. “We have to work better together,” he emphasizes, “because P12 [in qualifying] is not the result we were hoping for.”
Hamilton himself also sees “progress”
“It’s one thing to have the potential, it’s another to realize it. And we have to do our job in realizing it,” he clarifies. On a positive note, however, it now seems that Hamilton’s failure is more down to his performance over the weekend than his pure speed.
In the last race before the summer break, the record world champion described himself as “useless,” but now even he recognizes an upward trend. “We are overdue for a good weekend and a good result,” Hamilton said after Baku.
He also notes: “Operationally, we could have done better. We need to work on that.” That said, he also speaks personally of “progress,” which suggests that Vasseur’s assessment is not entirely off the mark. Hamilton is still waiting for his first podium finish with Scuderia after 17 Grands Prix for Ferrari. Although he surprisingly won the sprint in the second race of the season in China, his teammate Charles Leclerc has already been on the podium five times this year. The Monegasque also currently leads the World Championship with 165:121 points.
