Hamilton strongly backs Vasseur amid Horner to Ferrari links
by Filip Cleeren · AutosportLewis Hamilton has backed Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Fred Vasseur after the latest round of rumours around the Frenchman's future
Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari Formula 1 boss Fred Vasseur "really is the guy to take this team in the right direction" amid destabilising rumours around his future.
Just over one year on from the last barrage of rumours around his future, which were quelled by signing a new contract, Vasseur's future has been under increased scrutiny again.
A recent interview with former Red Bull chief Christian Horner in The Times, meant to promote the upcoming release of his memoir, was construed as him angling for Vasseur's job when Horner was asked about his requirements for accepting an F1 return. That would generally involve some sort of ownership stake, with one exception.
"I did 21 years sitting on the pitwall. I don’t need to go back to that. At this stage in my life, there’s only one team for which I would accept non-participation in ownership,” Horner said.
“Would I consider Ferrari? I mean, Ferrari is the biggest brand in Formula 1. It’s the dream. And arguably it’s the sleeping giant of Formula 1.”
Horner's comments, and the subsequent buzz they caused in Italy, frustrated Vasseur, because they caused more unnecessary distractions than the team is already dealing with on a daily basis. “We are not working in perfect serenity, if that is the question,” he said.
“For me, first, but for everybody on the team, for the media, for 50% of the questions about this, I think it's a bit of a frustrating situation. Mr Horner is looking for a job – that everybody knows – everywhere."
While Horner wasn't implying he was looking to replace Vasseur, though the media attention that followed won't have harmed his book's PR campaign, Ferrari is unwillingly finding itself on the defensive again. And following a team statement earlier this week that its leadership of Ferrari president John Elkann and CEO Benedetto Vigna remains fully behind Vasseur, seven-time world champion Hamilton has now given his team boss his strongest vote of confidence yet.
"I think Fred has the full backing," Hamilton said in Kuala Lumpur ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. "You can see they've obviously switched out lots of different people in Fred's role but Fred is a fantastic leader. He really is the guy to take this team in the right direction.
"There are also people above Fred and it's not about one person. Fred has led the team. He's helped make changes in this past year. He's helped us get to second in the constructors' championship, that's a huge step from last year."
Hamilton added it was "frustrating" to deal with the air of negativity circling the team, which he noticed was more volatile at Ferrari than at other teams on the grid who are performing worse.
"For me, it's frustrating to see all the negativity because you see other people making mistakes and no one really says too much about them," he pointed out. "We either make the same mistake or are not perfect and we know we're not. It's 10 times worse for some reason for Ferrari. But that's also to be expected given that it's the best brand here, it's the most iconic by far."
Hamilton, who experienced a different leadership structure at his long-time team Mercedes, did acknowledge that he felt Ferrari's way of working was worth looking at, though he preferred to keep his exact ideas private.
"There is a structure that's been there for some time, whether or not that needs looking at moving forward. There are changes that I would make, but I'm not going to talk about what those are," he said.
"Toto is in a different position to Fred and the structure's a lot different. So, that's all I can say on it, really."
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