Speaking after last weekend’s F1 Hungarian GP, Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur claims he understands Lewis Hamilton’s frustration which spilled over following a disappointing Saturday performance in Formula 1 Qualifying.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton endured a second consecutive frustrating qualifying session last weekend in Hungary. Having failed to progress from Q1 in Belgium 2 weeks ago, the seven time champion once again struggled, managing only P12 last saturday. A downbeat Hamilton suggested following the session that he was “useless” and the team should change drivers.
Speaking after the F1 Hungarian GP in a print media session, Ferrari team principal Vasseur played down the impact of Hamilton’s comments. He explained he understands Hamilton’s frustration, but backed his driver, noting his pace in Q1.
“He’s demanding,” Vasseur explained when quizzed on Hamilton’s scathing reflection of his own performance. “But I think it’s also why he’s seven times world champion, that he’s demanding with the team, with the car, with the engineers, with the mechanics, with myself also. But, first of all, he’s very demanding with himself.
“It was, I think, always a good motivation for him and the main reason of performance. And, for sure, when you are seven times world champion, your teammate is in top position and you are out in Q2, it’s tough, it’s a tough situation.”
Vasseur continued to explain that both cars struggled throughout qualifying, and the end result was not indicative of Hamilton’s performance. The Ferrari man confidently claimed Hamilton would be back on form for the F1 Dutch GP after the summer break.
“Overall, we can also have a deep look that he was in front of Charles in Q1, [on] the first set, and then he was one tenth off in Q2. We were not far away [from having] the two cars out in Q2. And the outcome of this is that Charles, at the end, is able to be in pole position. But, honestly, the gap was not 1.2 seconds yesterday. But I can understand the frustration from Lewis that this is normal.
“We discussed a lot yesterday that the race today was difficult because we took some bets. To start with, when he was stuck in the DRS train, but when he was alone, the pace was good. I am sure that he will be back in Zandvoort and he will perform.”
Delving deeper into Hamilton’s qualifying results, Vasseur stated the issue stems from the lack of car performance. Reflecting on Hamilton’s results throughout 2025, Vasseur noted that Hamilton has been close to or quicker than Leclerc on many occasions.
“If you have a look at Q1, with the first set, he’s in front of Charles,” he recalled. “The second one, he’s within a tenth of Charles. At the end, Charles is [in] pole position. The issue is that when we were lacking performance and at risk, he did one lap two tenths slower than Charles and he was out in Q2.
“I don’t know if we were unlucky with Lewis or lucky with Charles to go through and to be able to compete in Q3 and to do the pole. But at the end of the day, it’s really on the edge. If you compete in Q3, then you can do a good result.
“It’s true that he had a very good recovery. I’m not an expert in statistics. He had a good recovery after Miami, Spain, Silverstone, Austria. He was matching Charles in Canada two or three times. He was even in front of Charles in Quali. Last weekend, when he lost the car at T14, he was six tenths faster than Charles.
“I know the game. You have to finish the lap.”
When asked by the media how he would motivate Hamilton through the summer break, Vasseur claims it wouldn’t be necessary. He again suggested Hamilton’s comments after the session were passing comments made in frustration.
“I don’t need to motivate him. Honestly, he’s frustrated, but not demotivated,” he explained. “It’s a completely different story. Again, I can perfectly understand the situation. Sometimes you are making comments on what the driver is saying to the car, but you put the microphone on some other sportsman in football. I’m not sure that it would be much better.
“They are in the performance and sometimes they are making comments, even when they jump out of the car. I can understand the frustration, but we are all frustrated.”
