Lewis Hamilton ‘mistake’ as Fred Vasseur responds to ‘finger-pointing’ comment

Fred Vasseur is adamant he is not blaming “someone or something” after Lewis Hamilton questioned Ferrari’s hierarchy amid reports that Vasseur’s job is on the line.

And he says it would be a “mistake” to point fingers at Maranello after Hamilton drew attention to “people above Fred” on Thursday at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Fred Vasseur rejects finger-pointing after Lewis Hamilton Ferrari comments

Sources have indicated to PlanetF1.com that Vasseur could be eased out of his role as Ferrari team principal at the end of the F1 2026 season.

The Frenchman has yet to secure a drivers’ world title with Ferrari, extending its drought to 24 years, while under his tenure the team has also fallen short in the constructors’ championship.

It is believed that Ferrari could ‘stage-manage’ Vasseur’s exit at the end of this season, a year before his contract is due to expire.

Ferrari tried to quell the whispers in the build-up to the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, holding a media briefing in which the Scuderia’s chief communication officer Maria Conti insisted several times that the team had full confidence in Vasseur’s leadership.

So too do the drivers, although Hamilton questioned whether Ferrari’s hierarchy needs “looking at moving forward.”

“Structure, I think, is very important, and therefore stability, ultimately having everyone rowing in the same direction, I think is key in any business,” said the seven-time world champion. “I think Fred has the full backing.”

Pressed further, he added: “There often seems to be a lot of focus on one individual in one role always here, and you can see they’ve obviously switched out lots of different people in Fred’s role, but Fred is a fantastic leader. He really is the guy to take this team in the right direction.

“However, there is a structure that’s been there for some time. Whether or not that needs looking at moving forward… There are obviously also people above Fred, and it’s not about one person.”

The Briton’s comment was put to Vasseur during Friday’s FIA press conference.

“First,” he told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets at the Sepang circuit, “about the structure of the team, it’s a non-end story.

“It means that you have to improve. I think the DNA of what we are doing is to not take success as a final situation, but to try to improve in the good and the bad moments.

“And honestly, the dynamic that we have, that we recruited a lot, we are trying to push the limit of everything.

“On the comment of Lewis, I think it would be a mistake to finger-point someone or something or whatever. In the good moment we are winning as a team, in the bad moment we are suffering as a team and I don’t want to speak about a single individual or whatever.

“Honestly, I think it would be a huge mistake to start to not be unified.

“We had a good beginning of the season that for sure it’s not enough. That we want more. We want to win more. We want to win the championship.

“But at the end of the day, that we had a positive start. We are struggling in the last couple of races, and but we are hoping to come back soon with development and to be back into the pace.”

Leading into that, Vasseur was asked by PlanetF1.com whether he wanted more autonomy as team principal.

“No, honestly, the relationship that I have with my boss – Benedetto [Vigna] and John [Elkann] – is a very good one. We are in a daily contact, and I can’t complain at all about the organisation.

“That for sure, you always want to get more, you always want to do more, you always want to recruit more.

“But I think it’s true for me, and it’s true for everybody on the grid, that you always want to do more because it’s the DNA of what we are doing.

“But honestly, it has nothing to do with the organisation.”

The organisation that has now publicly backed Vasseur.

More from Ferrari

FIA confirms Charles Leclerc findings after ‘extensive’ Ferrari inspection

Ralf Schumacher tears into Christian Horner over his Ferrari ‘dream’

Asked about Ferrari’s unusual step of holding a media briefing to clarify his future, Vasseur said it was simply to put an end to the questions about his future and focus on the season going forward.

“When you see the noise and all the rumours in the press all the week, I think as a team we need to work in serenity, and it was absolutely not the case.

“And I think the statement was it was mandatory to do something, or it would have been the same this weekend.

“But honestly, the big issue that we have today is the stability, the serenity into the team, the focus that we need to have, and not to have this kind of questions all the day.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

Read Next: Lance Stroll F1 salary revealed in Aston Martin accounts