Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur sees the team benefiting from the naming battle between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, rather than suffering.
A new era is on the horizon at Ferrari after the team opted to extend Carlos Sainz’s contract to bring in seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who activated an exit clause in his contract with Mercedes to move from F1 to Maranello. . 2025.
At Ferrari Hamilton will become team-mate to Charles Leclerc, the star graduate of the Ferrari Driver Academy who has raced with the team since 2019 in pursuit of bringing title glory back to the famed Italian squad.
Ferrari finished second in the 2024 constructors’ standings with Grand Prix wins (3 for Leclerc and two for Sainz) with the aim of aiming for a double name next season.
However, as Hamilton chases his record eighth world championship and Leclerc looks like the driver to return Ferrari to the top of F1, team boss Fred Vasseur fears a headache if he has to deal with a dispute. by name among his Ferraris. The driving forces?
As it turns out, not at all. Instead, he believes such a situation would benefit Ferrari as it would boost performance.
Asked via Sky F1 whether Hamilton instead of Leclerc for the 2025 name would be a “happy headache”, Vasseur replied: “Yes, I would fight for one, two, not for 19, 20, that It’s clear. “
“And I think it’s also part of the performance, clearly. The last two years I let them race on track and it was for the benefit of the team, because the emulation that we created like this was part of the recovery when we had tough times.
“And they had enormous respect for each other and we had a great time this morning with Carlos’s father [farewell day at the Fiorano track] and it was very nice.
“It’s about team performance. “
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In other words, Ferrari marks a clear cultural change for Hamilton, but former Ferrari team principal and now F1 president Stefano Domenicali explained that Hamilton was already prepared for this transition.
“He will bring a lot of interest,” Domenicali told Autoracer on Hamilton’s Ferrari move.
“He is learning to speak Italian and to perceive how to integrate into our culture. I told him that it was also essential for him to be able to do that. At Ferrari he will place a different environment to the previous one.
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