Lewis Hamilton accused of ‘undermining’ Fred Vasseur with Ferrari authority question raised
Has Lewis Hamilton undermined Fred Vasseur at Ferrari? An F1 commentator believes so.
Lewis Hamilton has been accused of “undermining” Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Fred Vasseur as speculation continues to swirl about his position.
Vasseur is under pressure as rumours continue about his leadership after former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted joining Ferrari would be “the dream”.
Ferrari has since publicly backed Vasseur as its team principal during an unusual media call that saw chief communication officer Maria Conti deliver a message she said was on behalf of chairman John Elkann and CEO Benedetto Vigna.
Hamilton gave a one-word reply when asked if he still believes Vasseur is the right man to lead Ferrari amid the links to Horner, simply telling Sky Sports F1 after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix: “Yes.”
The seven-time world champion has previously spoken about his close relationship to Ferrari chairman Elkann, and Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft suggested the Briton may have undermined Vasseur.
“Who’s in charge at Ferrari? That’s the question that needs to be asked and answered before any decisions for the future are made,” Croft said on the Sky Sports F1 Show podcast.
“Is it the team principal? And if so, then Fred is very much under pressure and will take accountability, I’m sure. Or is it John Elkann? Is Fred just carrying out the day-to-day whilst those above make all the big decisions?
“I’m not criticising Lewis here, but when he says ‘I’ve got a great relationship with John Elkann, we’re very close’. Is that actually undermining Fred just a little bit as well? If John Elkann takes such a hands-on role, which I believe he does, then how do you expect your team principal to exert authority?”
Croft believes replacing Vasseur with Horner would not magically fix all of Ferrari’s problems. Instead, he believes a wider overhaul of how the Italian team operates is needed before things can change.
“The reason it worked with Christian at Red Bull was because he was the CEO as well as team principal. He was given autonomy to create and run that team,” Croft continued.
“Until you do that at Ferrari, you are just going to be repeating the same mistakes on the wheel and going round and round and not optimising everything you’ve got.”
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
