Ferrari staff principal Frederic Vasseur has admitted that he and Lewis Hamilton “stupidly” underestimated the problem the seven-time world champion would face in becoming a member of the Italian squad.
Hamilton made a blockbuster swap to hitch Ferrari firstly of the 2025 season after spending 12 years at Mercedes, who he had joined in 2013 having pushed at McLaren for the primary six years of his System 1 profession.
The 40-year-old’s debut marketing campaign with Ferrari has been extraordinarily underwhelming, with the Brit left sixth within the drivers’ standings and with out a grand prix podium as the game reached its August summer season break with 14 of the season’s 24 rounds full.
Hamilton hit a brand new emotional low within the last spherical earlier than the break in Hungary, as he declared himself “ineffective” and stated Ferrari wanted to vary driver, after qualifying twelfth when his team-mate Charles Leclerc – who has 5 grand prix podiums this season – claimed pole.
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After a difficult qualifying session on the Hungarian Grand Prix, Martin Brundle and Jamie Chadwick talk about whether or not Lewis Hamilton can recuperate at Ferrari
Reflecting on Hamilton’s struggles forward of the season’s resumption with the Dutch Grand Prix from August 29-31, Vasseur informed The Race: “Lewis and I, we collectively, most likely underestimated the change of atmosphere, and the truth that he spent, for me, 20 years in the identical staff.
“McLaren was Mercedes, after which he moved to Mercedes, an English staff [based in Brackley], identical engine guys, that very same tradition and so forth.
“So, he spent 2006 to 2024, 18 years, on this atmosphere, after which he arrived at Ferrari. And we had been stupidly anticipating that he can have every part below management.”
Even earlier than his struggles on the Hungaroring, Hamilton had admitted upon arriving in Budapest that there would “be some tears” through the summer season break as he tried to come back to phrases with “an actual battle” of a begin to life at Ferrari.
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Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was despondent after failing to make it into Q3 on the Hungarian Grand Prix
Per week earlier in Belgium, Hamilton revealed he had been submitting paperwork to Ferrari bosses and holding conferences with key figures throughout the staff in an try to make sure the partnership is extra profitable in 2026.
Whereas there have been occasional vibrant spots, most notably a Dash pole and victory on the second spherical of the season in China, Hamilton has largely struggled to familiarize yourself with the SF-25.
Vasseur additionally defined why he thinks the Brit may be discovering it more difficult than the motive force he changed at Ferrari, Williams’ Carlos Sainz, to modify groups.
“He is not the man who modified staff each two years,” Vasseur stated.
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“You’ve gotten guys on the grid that, if in case you have a glance on Carlos, for instance, he did Toro Rosso, Renault, McLaren, us and Williams in eight years.
“He modified 4 occasions. He is used to coping with this. Lewis was not the case.
“Culturally talking, there’s a greater distinction between Ferrari and Mercedes than between Mercedes and McLaren. And this we underestimated.”
System 1 returns after the summer season break with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on August 29-31, reside on Sky Sports activities F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
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