Lewis Hamilton has stepped firmly into Ferrari’s latest leadership storm, delivering an emphatic defence of Fred Vasseur as speculation over the team principal’s future once again threatens to overshadow the Scuderia’s work on track.
The latest round of noise was triggered by comments from former Red Bull boss Christian Horner, whose recent interview with The Times was intended to promote his upcoming memoir.
Asked what might tempt him back into Formula 1, Horner identified one notable exception to his preference for an ownership stake: Ferrari.
“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.”
The remarks were enough to reignite speculation in Italy about Vasseur’s position, despite Horner not explicitly saying that he wanted the Ferrari job. Vasseur, understandably, was unimpressed by the distraction.
“We are not working in perfect serenity, if that is the question,” he said in Baku.
“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."
Ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, Ferrari reaffirmed its support for Vasseur, with president John Elkann and CEO Benedetto Vigna making clear that the Frenchman retains the confidence of the organisation.
Now Hamilton has added his own considerable weight to that defence.
Hamilton delivers emphatic Vasseur backing
Speaking in Sepang on Thursday, Hamilton made it clear that he sees Vasseur as the right man to continue steering Ferrari.
"I think Fred has the full backing," Hamilton said. "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's intervention comes after a difficult period in which Ferrari has once again found itself under an unusually intense microscope.
The seven-time world champion believes the scrutiny surrounding the Scuderia is disproportionate, particularly when compared with teams enduring more obvious problems.
"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."
That pressure is nothing new for Ferrari, but Hamilton’s comments underline how difficult it can be for the team to operate without every setback becoming a wider debate about its structure and leadership.
Hamilton sees room for change - with Vasseur at the helm
Hamilton, who spent the bulk of his career working under Toto Wolff at Mercedes, nevertheless acknowledged that Ferrari's organisational structure could be examined.
The Briton stopped short of publicly prescribing what should change, however, drawing a distinction between Ferrari's hierarchy and the model he experienced at Mercedes.
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‘Full confidence’: Ferrari responds to Vasseur-Horner speculation"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 [Wolff] is in a different position to Fred and the structure's a lot different. So, that's all I can say on it, really."
It leaves Hamilton delivering a nuanced message rather than an unconditional endorsement of every aspect of Ferrari's operation: the structure can evolve, mistakes can be addressed, but he sees Vasseur himself as the leader capable of taking the team forward.
For a Ferrari operation once again forced to spend precious energy answering questions about who is in charge, Hamilton’s intervention could hardly have been more direct.
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