Team Principal Fred Vasseur praised Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for their professionalism after the Ferrari duo endured an intense wheel-to-wheel battle at the 2026 F1 Chinese GP.
The red cars started P3 and P4 on the grid before Hamilton surged for the lead at Turn 1 at the race start, while Leclerc moved up to P3. However, these positions didn’t last long as the SF-26 fell short on pace compared to their rivals, Mercedes. Kimi Antonelli quickly marched to the front and was unstoppable.
When they dropped down, Hamilton and Leclerc began a fight that lasted nearly the entire race, with the duo constantly switching positions in close battles, narrowly avoiding collisions and a potential double DNF. Ultimately, on Lap 40, Hamilton made the decisive overtake and went on to claim his first podium with the team in P3, while Leclerc settled for P4.
“It can also look completely stupid”: Vasseur on racing without orders
Speaking after the 2026 F1 Chinese GP in a print media session, Vasseur explained Ferrari’s decision to allow the two drivers to race freely and avoid team orders.
“Yeah, huge respect for both of them, they are professional and I think it makes sense in this situation to let them race,” he said.
“I know perfectly that it can also look completely stupid half an hour later, but at the end of the day, I think it’s also the best way to build up a team and we need to have this kind of emulation into the team to improve and as long as it’s done like it was done today, even a couple of times in the radio they told us that they had good fun, but I don’t want to freeze the position.”
Both Ferrari drivers were also pleased with their clean battle, with Leclerc noting that he “really enjoyed it,” and Hamilton describing it as “the best racing that I’ve ever experienced in Formula 1.”
Managing the gap
Sunday’s 2026 F1 Chinese GP also saw the battle between Ferrari and Mercedes continue. At lights out, Ferrari once again bolted ahead despite Mercedes’ strong qualifying pace and grid positions.
However, as both stints went on, Mercedes displayed better pace and had lower degradation. They were ultimately around 0.5-0.6s a lap quicker.
Reflecting on the margins between the teams, Vasseur said:
“Yeah, at the beginning we were fighting with the Merc, as long as we are in the one second, we can have the extra boost and we are able to keep the pace, but as soon as they are making the one second gap, it’s much more difficult.”
Early in the race, the gaps between the two teams remained close. However, as the Ferrari drivers began battling each other, Kimi Antonelli was able to pull away at the front. By the time George Russell passed Leclerc on lap 29 for P2, the Italian had built a 7.7-second gap.
“I think we are pushing perhaps a bit more than them on the opening laps and then after the first ten laps of each team, we are coming back to the four, five tenths of a lap that they have. But it’s true that behind us it was Bearman, I think, or Gasly at one stage, and they were quite far away, it means that you can manage a little bit more the situation,” he concluded.
