Ferrari F1 Team Principal Fred Vasseur opened up about how tyre temperatures affected the pace of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, their struggles in general during the race weekend, and the timing of the Brit’s switch from intermediate to soft tyres following their meagre haul of six points at the 2026 São Paulo GP on Sunday.
How the race unfolded for Leclerc and Hamilton
The Grand Prix got underway on a damp track, with the entire field on intermediate tyres. Leclerc and Hamilton started the 71-lap race from P14 and P20, respectively, following penalties for the replacement of power unit components.
The Stevenage native made up eleven places on the opening lap, moving up to ninth. However, his tyres started to overheat, and he dropped to P14 by Lap 10. Meanwhile, the 9-time race winner initially lost one position before clawing back some ground.
While he was keen to box a couple of laps earlier, Ferrari finally called Hamilton into the pits on Lap 15 and swapped his intermediates for softs. Leclerc switched to slicks two laps later. Both drivers—the Monégasque in particular—struggled to warm up their tyres at the outset.
Hamilton made a second stop on Lap 39 for another set of softs. Leclerc, however, questioned the call of the Ferrari pit wall and stayed out to extend his stint on the softest compound.
When the rain made an appearance again towards the end, the 29-year-old pitted on Lap 62 to switch back to intermediates. He rejoined the track in P9.
On the other hand, the 7-time World Champion saw an opportunity to overtake Liam Lawson and stayed out for one more lap compared to his teammate. As a result, he spun on the wet track near the pit lane entrance and lost time before making his stop on Lap 63.
While Leclerc crossed the line in seventh, the stewards handed him a 5-second penalty post-race for his clash with Lawson, dropping him down to P8 in the final results. Hamilton came home in ninth.
Vasseur on why Leclerc and Hamilton struggled in different phases of the 2026 São Paulo GP
Speaking in a print media session after the rain-affected F1 race, Fred Vasseur addressed why the lap times of Leclerc and Hamilton were so inconsistent in different phases of the 2026 São Paulo GP. He chalked their troubles up to their inability to keep the tyres in the right working window.
“I don’t want to speak in details of technical stuff. But for sure, it’s a lot about tyre temperature, and in certain phases of the race or certain conditions we are struggling more.
“And yeah, there was a huge gap between the beginning of the stint of Charles [Leclerc] on soft and the last couple of laps when he was almost as fast as the guys with new tyres.”
Conceding that persistent tyre temperature issues exacerbated the SF-26’s weaknesses in the changing conditions at Interlagos, Vasseur also pointed out that the grid penalties and the power unit deficit had left them at a disadvantage from the very beginning.
“As usual, when you have an issue with tyres, the effect or the impact is always much, much higher than the characteristic of the car or the upgrade that you bring.
“You can bring an upgrade a weekend; if you are not in the right spot with the tyres, you are nowhere because the magnitude of this is half a second, but most of the upgrades or the characteristic of the track is tenths.
“This weekend, I think we were able to be into the pace on some occasions, and some occasions we were far away.
“Then there is another issue—starting from the back with the penalty and the fact that we are still struggling in terms of top speed. When you have only one line dry, it’s mega difficult. We were stuck at the back.”
Ferrari’s struggles in general and the timing of Hamilton’s switch to slicks
Furthermore, Fred Vasseur elaborated on why Ferrari—who are often at the top of the timesheets on Friday—didn’t manage to find their feet throughout the São Paulo GP weekend.
Stating that the grid penalties incurred by Leclerc and Hamilton had altered their approach to the twentieth round of the 2026 F1 campaign, the Ferrari Team Principal claimed that they fared well in both dry and wet conditions on Saturday.
Vasseur ultimately reiterated that their straight-line speed deficit, tyre warm-up issues, and engine penalties had pushed them into a tight corner as far as strategy for Sunday’s race was concerned.
“On Friday, we knew that, and then when you have to take the penalty, the approach of the weekend is a bit different.
“Friday, we struggled. Saturday was much better, both conditions [dry FP3 and wet qualifying]. But I think it’s an accumulation between the mix of the top-speed issue, we had to put the tyres in temperature, and we are at the back, and we are struggling. And then we are trying to find a shortcut on the strategy, and so on.”
Asked to what extent the low ambient temperatures had contributed to the tyres falling out of the ideal operational window, the 58-year-old responded, “I think it’s key.”
Hamilton was the very first driver to head into the pits for softs on Lap 15 when the track started drying out in São Paulo.
Regarding the Brit’s insistence on going to slicks a couple of laps earlier, Vasseur refused to cast aspersions on the pit wall’s decision.
“If you have a look, Alonso was faster than us on the lap after with the inters. I think we anticipated when we pitted Lewis [Hamilton]—it was to be aggressive, and perhaps a bit too much.”
