Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have again given their full support to team principal Frederic Vasseur following further speculation over his future.
The team extended Vasseur’s contract in July last year. Former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner recently gave an interview in which he described his desire to run the Italian team, prompting some publications to cast doubt on Vasseur’s future.Ferrari held a media conference earlier this week to scotch those rumours and Hamilton gave Vasseur his full backing today.
“I think it’s good that they did it,” he said. “In terms of how unified [we are] as a team, I think we already were unified.
“Honestly, outside sources seem to be so negative towards us as a team and trying to break our spirit, but they’re not succeeding. So people can continue with the negative narrative, but inside everyone’s working really hard.
“Fred is the guy to lead us. He’s doing a fantastic job.”
Vasseur took charge of the team at the beginning of 2023. His predecessors Mattia Binotto and Maurizio Arrivabene each lasted around four years in the job, while Marco Mattiacci before them did just seven months. When Vasseur took charge, only Alpine had swapped team principals more often than Ferrari.
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“If you look at the history, how many people have been swapping out that role, I feel like it’s in a better place than it’s been before,” said Hamilton.
“But ultimately, it’s not a one-man situation. It’s lots and lots of people coming together, and if you want to point fingers, point it somewhere else. There are people above that also are a part of it as well. It’s a lot of people.
“So I feel like we should take things away from this message, Fred’s in his position, he’s not going anywhere and I’m here to stay with him and I still believe fully in where we’re going.”
Hamilton’s team mate Charles Leclerc, who has driven for Ferrari since 2019 and worked with Vasseur at Sauber before then, criticised those questioning Vasseur’s future.
“I think it’s very clear the relationship I have with Fred but it goes obviously a lot further than that and it’s not only about a relationship but it’s also about his capabilities,” said Leclerc. “I think he’s exceptional at what he does and I have full trust in Fred.
“Inside the team it’s always been extremely clear that Fred has always had the support but for whatever reason every three or four years there are those crazy rumours around the team. I’ve been quite a few years with the team so I’m getting used unfortunately to this kind of events.
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“It’s not easy and I don’t think it’s respectful either because we are all here trying to do our absolute best and sometimes we’ll do mistakes and sometimes we’ll do great things, but for people to take the opportunity whenever there’s something that we could have done slightly better to start those rumours is just not nice.
“But one thing is sure is that Fred has got all of our support, and we are very proud of having him with us inside the team. And I hope that we can bring the team back on top as soon as possible.”
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