Lewis Hamilton launches passionate Fred Vasseur defence but wants Ferrari leadership changes

Lewis Hamilton has launched a passionate defence for Fred Vasseur to remain as Ferrari’s Formula 1 team principal, but admitted a shake-up of the leadership is needed. 

Vasseur’s position has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks amid speculation continuing to link Christian Horner with the team. In a recent interview with The Times, the former Red Bull boss opened the door to a shock F1 move, admitting that Ferrari would be “the dream”. 

Ferrari took the unusual step of hastily arranging a media call on Tuesday to throw public backing behind Vassuer, and seven-time world champion Hamilton made an impassioned case for the Frenchman ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. 

"I think it's good that they did it," Hamilton said of Ferrari’s show of support to Vasseur, "In terms of how it unifies the team, I think we were already unified. 

“Honestly outside sources seem to be so negative towards us as a team and be trying to break our spirit but they are not succeeding. So people can continue with the negative narrative but inside everyone is working really hard.

"Fred is the guy to lead us. He's doing a fantastic job. If you look at the history how many people they're swapping out that role and I feel like it's in a better place than it's been before 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's people above that are also are a part of it as well. It's a lot of people. I feel like if you take things away from this message, Fred is 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.”

Speaking to the written media, Hamilton added: "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 there for some time. Whether or not that needs looking at moving forwards, there are also people above Fred, and it's not about one person.

"Fred has led the team, helped make changes in this past year. He's helped us get to the second Constructors' Championship. That's a huge step from last year. The deficit we have is simply just on engine, and that's something we're not we don't shy away from. We know that.

"Every weekend we carry a 0.4s deficit, if not sometimes 0.6s, just in straight-line power, and we're aware of it, and that's something we need to try to work on. They're working extremely hard to try and fix that for next year."

Hamilton said he will continue to make the case for the changes he believes are necessary with Ferrari’s top brass, though he would not go into detail. 

"There are changes that I would make but I'm not going to talk about what those are,” the 41-year-old Briton said. 

"Fred has been fantastic working with me and I think our relationship as a whole, even with the bosses, is in a much better place than it ever was. 

"Of course, people making comments have absolutely no clue what they are talking about ultimately because they are not inside the team.

"What's happening in the team or how it's structured, where the weaknesses are, obviously I am in the team and I know all those - I'm not going to speak on them, but I'm going to continue to try and work with those people that are in power to make the changes.

"Making changes is not a quick thing, people aren't always willing to do so very early on, but Fred has done a lot of changes I've asked for already and there are more for us to do.”

Hamilton was also asked about the differences between Ferrari and his old team Mercedes, to which he said: ”Toto [Wolff]’s in a different position to Fred. The structures are a lot different. That's all I can say on it really."