Ferrari quizzed on Monza slipstream after Hamilton raised ‘sacrificing one driver’ concern

Opting not to use Lewis Hamilton to give Charles Leclerc the tow in qualifying at Monza, Fred Vasseur said the risk wasn’t worth upsetting Ferrari’s “positive mood” at its home race.

Ferrari raised eyebrows when it opted not to use Hamilton, who was facing a five-place penalty, to boost his teammate’s chances of securing pole position in front of the Tifosi.

Ferrari opted not to use the slipstream at Monza

Leclerc finished Q3 with the fourth fastest time, 0.215s down on surprise pole-sitter Max Verstappen, with Hamilton fifth fastest before his penalty was applied, dropping him to tenth on the grid.

Hamilton made it clear he wouldn’t have supported the idea had he been asked to assist the Monegasque driver.

“Do I feel like they should have? I don’t,” Hamilton made clear to PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher and other media outlets.

“It’s not something I ever did in any of my other teams, potentially end up sacrificing one of the drivers.

“And I’ve already got a five-place penalty, so points-wise, I needed to be as high as I could.”

But while the seven-time World Champion words may have come across as defiant, Ferrari team principal Vasseur revealed the tow was never up for discussion.

Ferrari teammates: F1 2025 head-to-head stats

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

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The Frenchman said: “With this story of maximum lap time, if you do it, you have to sacrifice one car.

“It’s important for the team and for the drivers to be in a positive mood. It could work, but it also could not work at all.

“Even for Charles, you are much more focused on the tow, the gap to the car in front of you, than you are on the tyre preparation. The tyre preparation is so important that we decided to be forced on our own race.”

As for Leclerc, he was asked if the slipstream should’ve been up for discussion, he replied: “It’s something we’ll discuss with the team now.

“It’s always tricky to get it perfectly right and Lewis is still fighting to be starting as far up as possible. So we’ll discuss about it, but I don’t think it’s the main point of today.”

Asked about his prospects on Sunday and whether he can add a second Monza win to his tally, he replied: “I hope so, I hope so. Overtaking is not going to be easy.

“I hope that staying within the DRS range of the guys in front can help us to go away with them and to do something special, but it’s going to be tough.”

Ferrari will line up on the Monza second in the Constructors’ Championship with 260 points, 12 ahead of Mercedes, while Leclerc and Hamilton are fifth and sixth in the Drivers’ standings.

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