Fred Vasseur says Ferrari team orders between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton remain premature, while confirming that development of the SF-26 will continue until the end of the 2026 Formula 1 season. Ahead of the championship’s official resumption, with the green light for practice at Zandvoort, the Ferrari Team Principal took stock of the season in an extensive interview with Sky Sport, discussing the title fight, the team’s future and both of his drivers.
Fred Vasseur is urging Ferrari to maintain a pragmatic approach during the second half of the season rather than allowing the championship standings to dictate its decisions. His immediate focus remains on the SF-26, its development programme and the upcoming races, beginning with Ferrari’s approach to the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort before Formula 1 heads to Monza.
Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari future can wait
Discussing Lewis Hamilton’s future, Fred Vasseur made it clear that there are no imminent contractual developments to announce. “There is already a contract in place. We have time to discuss the future at the beginning of next year, but it is not a topic for today.”
Ferrari’s priority therefore remains the present, particularly with the championship still closely contested and far from decided. “There are still 11 races, or even 12 with some Sprints. So we are talking about more than 300 points. I think the best thing to do is focus on what we are doing, now on Zandvoort, now on our development. Let’s try to develop the car, do a good job, execute well, and then we’ll look at the championship later.”
Fred Vasseur also pointed to the dangers of drawing conclusions too early in a season. “I was watching Sky this afternoon with the 2024 races and Red Bull was leading at this point of the season. In the end, we were the ones fighting while Red Bull was no longer in contention. That means it would be a mistake to think about the championship.”
Ferrari team orders between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are “far too early”
The same philosophy applies to any potential need for Ferrari to establish an internal hierarchy between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Fred Vasseur does not believe Ferrari has reached the point where such a decision needs to be made.
“At this point of the season Piastri was leading for McLaren and in the end he was champion. I think it is still a very premature stage to make these decisions. One victory is enough to change everything for every team.”
Ferrari will therefore continue concentrating on its own performance before considering any intervention between its drivers, despite the wider debate over possible Ferrari team orders involving Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
“Let’s focus on ourselves, let’s try to keep pushing in the right direction and then, if at some point the decision becomes obvious, we will make that decision. But for the moment it is far too early.”
Zandvoort and Monza performance still difficult to predict
Fred Vasseur also stressed how difficult it remains to predict the SF-26’s competitiveness under Formula 1’s new technical regulations. “We are in the first year of homologation for these cars and this season is going to be a little strange.”
Ferrari has performed better than expected at certain circuits, including Spa and Silverstone, because the competitive balance depends on several different factors.
“We expected not to be competitive at all at Spa and Silverstone, and you gave me the award for best actor because of that. But it was true. That was what we expected and what we also expected from our rivals.”
Tyre compounds and corner characteristics are among the factors capable of shifting the competitive order from one circuit to another. “We have various parameters on the car. The compounds, the characteristics of the corners, all have to be taken into consideration. We are still at a preliminary stage with these cars.”
Fred Vasseur pointed to Budapest as the most recent example of Ferrari’s potential. “If we look at Budapest, the last race, Lewis was on the front row before the penalty, Charles was third and that means we are in the fight, and it will be like this until the end of the season.”
Ferrari will continue developing the SF-26 until the end of 2026
Fred Vasseur does not believe Ferrari’s development programme represents a disadvantage compared with the strategies employed by its rivals. The Scuderia has chosen to introduce smaller updates more frequently, while other teams prefer to bring larger packages at wider intervals. Ferrari has already continued that approach with its latest SF-26 floor and rear-wing development for Zandvoort.
“I think we will also keep pushing and will continue to do so until the end of the season. Compared with McLaren, for example, there are two different strategies. We bring small steps at every race, while McLaren brings larger packages every few races. But in terms of cost and potential, I think it is ultimately quite similar.”
According to the Ferrari Team Principal, the approach has delivered the intended results so far. “Every time we have produced something, it has worked, and that is crucial for the rest of the season.”
Finding additional performance will inevitably become more difficult as the championship progresses. “At the beginning you find big steps forward in terms of performance, and it is true that if you find a lot more points of aerodynamic load, there will obviously be performance. But at a certain point in the season, the improvements become smaller, and that means you have to be very careful, subtle and very precise. So far, though, everything has worked and I hope it continues like this until the end.”
Ferrari’s power-unit deficit remains a factor
One variable still affecting Ferrari is its power-unit deficit, which becomes particularly noticeable at circuits featuring long straights. “We were a little behind in terms of engine performance at the beginning of the season. We are trying to compensate, but we are still a little bit behind.”
However, the deficit does not carry the same weight at every track. “This performance gap is a little bigger at Monza, Spa and Silverstone compared with Budapest or Monaco, but there are other parameters related to performance. Tyre management, set-up, the configuration of the car, the characteristics of the car.”
The complexity of the 2026 power-unit regulations also means overall performance involves more than simply combustion-engine output, as explored in our detailed analysis of Ferrari’s 2026 power-unit performance.
For Fred Vasseur, the first season under the new rules also makes it difficult to establish a definitive competitive order. “At some point there will be a convergence in performance and at that point I think it will be much easier to predict the competitive order. Probably in the final six or seven races we will be able to predict performance quite well.”
Fred Vasseur admits he underestimated Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari adaptation
Fred Vasseur then assessed Lewis Hamilton’s progress at Ferrari, admitting that he initially underestimated how difficult it could be for a driver accustomed to the same working environment for decades to adapt to an entirely new team.
“I expected a strong Hamilton from the very beginning, but I think last year I personally made a mistake because I underestimated how difficult it is for a new driver to settle into a new team.”
Moving to Ferrari required Lewis Hamilton to change methods and tools that had become deeply established throughout his long Formula 1 career.
“Lewis spent seven years at McLaren and then 12 years at Mercedes, and that means he spent 20 years within the McLaren-Mercedes environment. Arriving at Ferrari in a different environment, even if you can get the car to the same tenth, you have to use different tools, different methodologies to achieve that target, and for a driver to be in control of all of that is a challenge.”
Fred Vasseur therefore accepts that the initial difficulty was partly the result of his own assessment. “I underestimated this aspect. It was my mistake, but we also managed to react very calmly, including in terms of character.”
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s differences could benefit Ferrari
Working with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc has also helped Ferrari better understand the different requirements of its two drivers.
“I don’t believe that much in driving style, but it is about what a driver likes and what he needs to be fast, and if we look at Lewis and Charles, it seems they have quite different preferences in terms of driving.”
For Fred Vasseur, having two drivers with different characteristics does not necessarily create a problem. Instead, their contrasting preferences can give Ferrari two different perspectives from which to develop and optimise the SF-26.
“Performance can also come from the differences because this can help the team have two different types of preferences.”
Ferrari now considers the situation much more manageable than it was previously. “Now we are in control of this because it is no longer a big problem for us. It was probably more of a problem at the beginning of last year when we had to discover it and we were a little more surprised that perhaps it wasn’t the same balance, but in the end I think it is turning out to be an advantage.”
Ferrari wants more experience from rival Formula 1 teams
Fred Vasseur also addressed Ferrari’s technical structure and left the door open to continuing to strengthen the organisation with personnel recruited from rival teams.
“We have to spend our time trying to identify where we can improve and how we can improve, hiring new people and so on.”
For the Frenchman, the key issue is not the nationality of incoming engineers but their ability to bring knowledge developed in different Formula 1 environments to Maranello.
“It is not a question of passports, but of people bringing experience from other teams because I think technology transfer is a good way to improve.”
Ferrari’s geographical position creates an additional recruitment challenge compared with the predominantly UK-based Formula 1 teams.
“One of Ferrari’s characteristics is also that we are a little isolated, while there are seven teams in the United Kingdom. You can move, for example, from Mercedes to Red Bull while keeping the same home and the same school for your children. That doesn’t apply to us. We have made a step forward in this direction, but we have to continue growing in every area.”
Fred Vasseur recalls the emotion of Charles Leclerc’s 2024 Monza victory
Finally, Fred Vasseur reflected on one of the most emotional moments of his time leading Ferrari, returning to Charles Leclerc’s victory at Monza in 2024, which came one year after Carlos Sainz secured pole position there in 2023. Ferrari will return to its home race this season with further development planned as part of its Monza performance push.
“I think the greatest emotion of my life, on an emotional level, was when we took pole position with Carlos and won at Monza with Charles because it was the first moment in my life when I felt this connection with the fans, with the tifosi.”
The memory is particularly closely linked to the response from the Italian crowd. “When Charles crossed the line in 2024, it was something incredible. Then seeing the straight full of fans until eight in the evening is something you have to experience, even for someone with all that experience.”
According to Fred Vasseur, that connection with Ferrari’s supporters can be felt even from inside the garage despite the noise and intensity of a Formula 1 race weekend.
“In our environment we are a little distant from the fans. It isn’t like football because with the noise of the cars and with the radios you are a little disconnected. But even with the noise and the radios, it is something you can feel. I think that when Carlos took pole, I understood the lap time from the reaction of the fans even before I saw it on the screen.”
Leave a Reply