Fred Vasseur has dismissed suggestions of lingering tension between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc ahead of Ferrari’s home race at Monza, revealing that the team held a one-hour call with both drivers immediately after the Dutch Grand Prix to explain its Zandvoort strategy decisions. The Ferrari team principal says open discussion with two ambitious champions is preferable to allowing frustration to build inside the team.
Frédéric Vasseur is preparing for his fourth Italian Grand Prix as Ferrari team principal at a moment of intense sporting and media attention. Speaking ahead of Monza, he discussed the Tifosi, Ferrari’s technical objectives, the championship fight, internal team dynamics and Lewis Hamilton’s adaptation to life at Maranello.
Fred Vasseur keeps Ferrari realistic before Monza
Ferrari is trying to prepare for the Italian Grand Prix as though it were simply another race on the Formula 1 calendar, even though the team knows the reality will be very different because of the enormous sporting and media attention surrounding its home weekend.
“We will try to stay in our bubble, aware of how demanding the Monza circuit is for our car,” Fred Vasseur told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “We achieved good results at other circuits where power was a limiting factor for us, such as Silverstone and Spa, and we will certainly do our best to maximise the result here too, but always while remaining realistic.”
Ferrari will also introduce its new engine specification in Italy, described as “a step forward”. The upgrade forms an important part of the Scuderia’s Monza package, with Fred Vasseur confirming the ADUO-2 power-unit upgrade ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.
Development during the season nevertheless remains complicated by both budget and time restrictions. Vasseur stressed that progress is being made, but Ferrari is not expecting to eliminate its deficit to Mercedes immediately.
“In that respect we are making steps forward, even though we don’t expect to be able to catch Mercedes at Monza because the gap is significant. But the objective is clear: to keep progressing, focusing on ourselves and on what we know we can still do.”
Budget cap and Ferrari’s championship ambitions
Vasseur remains relaxed about Ferrari’s position under the cost cap and believes the same is true for the other teams.
“We are not the only ones bringing a lot of updates, just look at McLaren for example. There isn’t a big difference compared with previous seasons; it is the same exercise, with the same budget items.”
He added that major accidents, such as those suffered by Max Verstappen during the first part of the season, can have a significant effect on a team’s budget, but stressed that the same risk applies to everyone.
When asked about Ferrari’s chances of winning the World Championship, Vasseur preferred not to focus on the points deficit to Mercedes.
“Honestly, I don’t know what the points gap to Mercedes is at the moment, and I don’t even want to think about it or imagine too much about what might happen race by race from now until the end of the F1 World Championship.”
Instead, he drew a comparison with Ferrari’s 2024 campaign, when the team improved dramatically during the latter part of the season.
“It’s a bit like 2024, when we weren’t fighting for the title but over the final ten races we performed much better than at the beginning and recovered step by step until we were fighting for the World Championship at the final race. I would say we have to do the same this season: first of all, manage to improve and do a better job, both in development and at the track, so that we can be more consistent.”
McLaren shows Ferrari where execution must improve
Vasseur also addressed McLaren’s return to winning form after victories in the previous two Grands Prix. In terms of pure performance, he believes McLaren had remained competitive throughout, meaning its resurgence was not entirely unexpected.
“So from one point of view, yes, I expected it, but on the other hand, if I look at us, I think our execution in the last few Grands Prix has left a lot to be desired, and that is precisely what we have to focus on. McLaren executed perfectly and won in Budapest and the Netherlands. We have to do the same.”
Execution has become a particularly important subject for Ferrari after Zandvoort, where its strategy came under scrutiny despite the underlying pace of the car. The team has already begun analysing the mistakes that cost Ferrari a stronger Dutch Grand Prix result, while the Monza weekend will provide an immediate opportunity to respond.
That is especially important at a circuit where small operational errors can quickly undermine performance, as explored in our Ferrari Monza preview for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari says there is no Hamilton-Leclerc tension after Zandvoort
Strategic tension emerged between Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and the Ferrari pit wall during the Dutch Grand Prix, but Vasseur insists the situation has been addressed internally.
He acknowledged that managing two highly competitive champions is never easy, particularly when both are operating at the highest level and expect to fight for victories. The crucial factor, however, is being able to discuss problems openly.
“It is always difficult to manage champions on the track, because they are at the absolute peak of their performance and they always want to win. But it becomes really complicated when you cannot discuss things clearly with your drivers, and that is not our case.”
Ferrari did not allow the Zandvoort frustration to linger. The team organised an extensive debrief with both drivers the following morning.
“On Monday morning after the race, we had a one-hour call with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc and provided a clear explanation of the strategy, why we made those decisions, and by the end we had already taken stock of the situation with our focus on Monza.”
The discussion provided Ferrari with an opportunity to explain its reasoning and clear the air before its home Grand Prix. A more detailed account of Ferrari’s one-hour Hamilton and Leclerc call after Zandvoort shows how quickly the team attempted to resolve the strategic disagreement.
Vasseur believes that kind of openness is healthier than asking drivers to hide their frustrations.
“I prefer this kind of attitude rather than running the risk of everyone keeping everything to themselves and then ending up with a much worse result.”
Fred Vasseur explains Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari adaptation
Looking back at the particularly difficult 2025 season for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari, Vasseur acknowledged that he had underestimated just how significant the seven-time world champion’s transition to Maranello would be.
“Lewis had to manage all of this in the middle of a particularly complicated year for the team. I think he didn’t have control over everything and neither did we have control over Lewis, which means the collaboration in both directions had to improve, and that is what happened. When he arrived, he knew me and Loic Serra, that’s all.”
Hamilton had spent years operating within a different Formula 1 environment, meaning his Ferrari move involved considerably more than simply learning how to drive a new car. Vasseur has previously acknowledged that he underestimated part of Lewis Hamilton’s transition to Ferrari.
“He got to know 1,500 people working in the company, he learned new software, new methods, and then he started giving his opinion on what could be improved or changed. The process was long and at times painful, but we were always convinced it was worth it, and today we are seeing the results.”
Vasseur’s message before Monza is therefore twofold. Ferrari still believes it has performance to find and must improve its execution if it wants to challenge Mercedes and an increasingly effective McLaren, but internally the team principal sees no unresolved problem between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
The Zandvoort disagreements have been discussed, the strategic decisions have been explained and Ferrari’s attention has already moved towards its home race. For Vasseur, maintaining that level of communication between two drivers determined to win will be just as important as the technical progress the Scuderia hopes to demonstrate at Monza.
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