Following Ferrari’s unexpected triumph at Silverstone with Charles Leclerc, Team Principal Fred Vasseur shared his thoughts on the chances of Lewis Hamilton contending for the 2026 F1 Drivers’ Championship and whether they could successfully compensate for the lack of horsepower at the Belgian GP this weekend.
Although Kimi Antonelli and George Russell currently occupy the first and second places, respectively, in the Drivers’ standings, the reliability concerns Mercedes have encountered in recent rounds have allowed Hamilton to significantly narrow the gap to the Italian championship leader.
As it stands, Hamilton now sits third in the standings, 32 points behind Antonelli and only 7 adrift of Russell.
Vasseur admits Hamilton beating the Mercedes drivers for the championship would be difficult
Speaking in a print media session after Ferrari’s 250th win in F1 at the 2026 British GP, Fred Vasseur opened up about whether Hamilton has a realistic opportunity to challenge for the championship now that the Mercedes drivers have lost a considerable number of points to reliability problems.
Expressing caution that Mercedes still have an edge over Ferrari, Vasseur insisted that they are concentrating their efforts on delivering solid results in the upcoming Belgian GP weekend. Furthermore, he elaborated on why they find it relatively easier to put up a good fight against the Brackley-based squad over a race distance than in the Sprint race.
Reiterating that the Italian team must temper its expectations, the Frenchman underlined how Mercedes still have the upper hand in terms of pure performance and that mounting a successful title fight would be a pretty difficult exercise.
“Let’s be focused on Belgium. Let’s do a good race.
“I think Mercedes, honestly, they have still an advantage. If you have a look at the six, seven sessions that we did this weekend, they are probably five times ahead.
“It means that we had a good race. It’s true that on the long race it’s probably a bit easier for us. Because we have the start, we have the strategy. On the sprint it’s a bit more difficult. We don’t have strategy. It’s pure pace. Let’s see what we can do.
“But we also have to be realistic. But overall, they still have a small advantage in terms of pure performance. It will be difficult. Let’s be focused on Belgium.”
What Ferrari’s expectations are for Spa
With regard to Ferrari faring well at Silverstone against all expectations and whether they are optimistic about compensating for the engine power they lack relative to Mercedes at the 2026 Belgian GP, Fred Vasseur didn’t appear too confident.
While he acknowledged that Silverstone is significantly more power-hungry than the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the 58-year-old also explained that the weather conditions and the specific traits of the iconic British track allowed them to perform better than they had originally anticipated.
Reckoning that the weather at Spa-Francorchamps will be fairly different, Vasseur stated that Ferrari would have to build their race weekend from the ground up. He also maintained that there’s no magic bullet and that making incremental gains in every area would help them bring home solid points in the upcoming round.
“Not necessarily. For sure it’s much more engine related, Silverstone than Spain two weeks ago. But it was also the first time that we had windy conditions. Front-limited, the characteristic of the track is completely different.
“It’s not just about the engine. I think we did pretty well with all these topics. But next week will be another challenge in Spa.
“First, the weather will be probably a bit different. But we have to start from scratch every single weekend. Now there is nothing magic. We can’t imagine to make a step of five, six tenths in one weekend. It’s just the addition of small gains everywhere that will make the difference.”
