Frederic Vasseur understands media’s cheeky question on the hiring of Lewis Hamilton, as he states that the Brit is frustrated but not demotivated.
The last two weekends in Belgium and Hungary has given media lots to talk about Hamilton and Ferrari. The Brit managed to recover to points in the former, but the latter ended up in a disaster. Even though there is positive chatter about the car, the results hasn’t come by yet.
Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, has scored podiums and even a pole. Hamilton’s dejected mood in Hungary and urging Ferrari to dump him did create headlines, but it was put down not only by the Brit, but also team boss Vasseur, who regarded it as a normal outburst after a bad performance.
The Frenchman reckons it is similar to how any sportsperson will react immediately after a bad run – where even he can cause a stir and be fined by the FIA for the words used. He didn’t think he is demotivated. “I don’t need to motivate him,” said Vasseur to media. “Honestly, he’s frustrated, but not demotivated. It’s a completely different story. Again, I can perfectly understand the situation.
“Sometimes you are making comments on what the driver is saying to the car, but you put the microphone on some other sportsman in football. I’m not sure that it would be much better. They are in the performance and sometimes they are making comments, even when they jump out of the car. I can understand the frustration, but we are all frustrated.
“Sometimes, if you ask me, I can’t say this, [otherwise] I will go to the steward. Sometimes, just after the race, just after the quali, you are very disappointed, and the first reaction is harsh. We all know that we are pushing in the same direction. The good side of Hungary was that we were putting everything together. We were able to do the pole position and to lead the first 40 laps.
“If you are able to lead the first 40 laps, you can go to the end. Now we have to find why we lost the pace and to correct it for the next moment,” summed up Vasseur, who was asked directly if he is getting from Hamilton, what Ferrari wanted from him, considering the amount of money they invested in him to move from Mercedes to their team by cutting short the deal.
Vasseur understood what the media person wanted to do, but didn’t answer him directly on the question. “I’m not sure that I understand your question, or if I understand it’s not a good one,” he said with a laughter. “We are taking drivers because we want to compete into the championship and to score points and to win racing.”
Here’s Ferrari naming new juniors
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on being dejected
Here’s Charles Leclerc on radio rant