Ferrari F1 boss in ‘stop’ plea after Lewis Hamilton’s opening two months at team

Fred Vasseur has defended Hamilton’s underwhelming start to life at the Scuderia this season

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has urged onlookers to “stop” overreacting to Lewis Hamilton’s performance after an underwhelming first two months at the Scuderia.

Hamilton joined Ferrari after 12 years and six world titles at Mercedes, but has struggled to perform so far this year with just two top-five finishes in the first seven rounds of 2025.

Last time out in Imola, in his first race in Italy for Ferrari, Hamilton recovered from a poor qualifying spot of 12th to finish fourth – his best grand prix result yet for Ferrari.

Yet Vasseur has defended the 40-year-old Brit and his displays, insisting everyone needs to “stay calm” as Ferrari strive for more performance in their SF-25 car, starting in Monaco this weekend.

“I think we have to stop with this,” Vasseur said in Imola, when asked whether Hamilton’s adaptation to the team depends on his performance.

“Every single driver is working on himself, working with the team, trying to develop something, trying to do a better job.

“And it’s not that the Saturday evening he’s not well prepared, not in good condition with the car, and Sunday he’s a magician and everything is perfect.

“We just have to stay calm. For sure, we need to improve the communication, the understanding of the process and the tools and the software and everything.

“But honestly he did a very good job in China, he did a very good job today, step by step we will be there.”

Hamilton currently lies sixth in the championship standings, 93 points off leader Oscar Piastri.

Fred Vasseur has defended Lewis Hamilton’s start at Ferrari (Getty Images)

The seven-time world champion acknowledged that qualifying on Saturday is the biggest concern for the team at the moment.

“We have just got to unlock the potential in qualifying,” Hamilton said ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, where qualifying will be vital given the difficulties of overtaking on the tight, twisty street circuit.

“If we had qualified better, we would have been fighting for a podium. I’ve got some ideas that I’m going to try and apply next week [in Monaco]. People been a little bit reluctant to do it, because we’ve had lots of other things to focus on, but I’m hoping next week we can find something to unlock some more performance.

“Our car is generally good at high speed, OK in medium, and not as strong as others in low. Obviously, the next race [in Monaco] is all low, so we'll see how we get on.”

Ferrari are currently fourth in the constructors’ championship, a whopping 165 points behind leaders McLaren but just 17 points off third-placed Red Bull.