Ferrari’s decision to pull Lewis Hamilton out of the Spanish Grand Prix after just seven laps was not a case of surrendering a potential victory — it was, according to Fred Vasseur, a straightforward matter of safety.
Hamilton had made an encouraging start at the Madring and briefly found himself in the fight at the front after Max Verstappen returned third place to him following the Red Bull driver’s first-corner excursion. But any hopes of converting that promising opening into a big result quickly evaporated when a brake problem began to develop.
The issue first surfaced on Lap 2, with Hamilton reporting an increasingly long brake pedal. Ferrari attempted to address the problem from the pit wall, but when it returned a few corners later, Vasseur saw little point in gambling with 56 laps still remaining on a circuit where walls lurked around almost every corner.
‘It was too risky’ for Hamilton to continue
Hamilton began tumbling down the order as the braking problem worsened before Ferrari called him into the pits to retire. It was his first non-finish in 10 months and ended a remarkable run in which he had completed every racing lap of the 2026 season prior to Madrid.
For Vasseur, though, the decision was not particularly complicated.
“The pedal was long. We tried to fix it from the pit wall and then it happened again a couple of corners later,” Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said.
"Staying on track made no sense in a crazy race. We didn't want to take any risk.
“There were still 56 [laps to go]. The first time it happened was from Lap 2 and it was too risky.”
With the Madring offering little margin for error, Ferrari had no appetite for discovering just how serious the brake problem might become at racing speed.
Hamilton was understandably disappointed. He felt Ferrari had arrived at the Spanish GP with a car capable of challenging for the win, making the retirement particularly painful after such an encouraging start.
"I think the team’s done an amazing job, so I'm sad for them today that they couldn't get max points,” he added. “I think we had the car to fight for a win today, and unfortunately it just didn't work out."
Track position mattered for Ferrari
Vasseur shared Hamilton’s assessment that Ferrari had produced a competitive package in Madrid, although he was less convinced that it necessarily translated into a realistic shot at victory.
Charles Leclerc provided the clearest evidence of Ferrari’s underlying pace, finishing on the podium after a race in which overtaking proved exceptionally difficult.
"When you see the pace of Charles, you can imagine that we had the pace to fight with everybody," he said. “It's more a matter of track position. Honestly, it was mega difficult to overtake today.
"I'm more focused on my cars, but I don't know who overtook during the race. I think that in this situation it's just about track position. To fight is not the word, it's more a matter of position."
Read also: Leclerc defends Ferrari call as Vasseur sees missed Madring winThat distinction perhaps offered little consolation to Hamilton, who was left watching from the garage while Leclerc converted Ferrari’s promising pace into third place.
Yet with the brakes already behaving unpredictably on a track lined with unforgiving barriers, Vasseur was adamant that Ferrari had no reason to turn Hamilton’s frustrating afternoon into something potentially far worse.
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