Fred Vasseur has admitted he underestimated how difficult Lewis Hamilton’s transition from Mercedes to Ferrari would be in 2025 and believes he should have invested considerably more time in helping the seven-time world champion build relationships inside Maranello. The Ferrari team principal has also criticised the intense media reaction to Hamilton’s struggles during a season in which both driver and team fell well short of expectations.
Hamilton endured the first Formula 1 season of his career without a Grand Prix podium after completing one of the sport’s most high-profile driver transfers. Twelve months later, with five podiums and a maiden Ferrari victory in Barcelona during 2026, Vasseur has reflected on just how much the scale of the adjustment was underestimated.
Fred Vasseur admits Ferrari underestimated Lewis Hamilton’s adaptation
Speaking to German publication Motorsport Magazin, Fred Vasseur acknowledged that he had not fully appreciated how much work would be required for Lewis Hamilton to adapt to Ferrari, or how much adjustment would simultaneously be needed from the team.
Hamilton arrived at Maranello after spending 12 seasons with Mercedes, the longest period of his Formula 1 career with one team. Before joining Mercedes as a works driver, he had also spent six seasons racing for McLaren while the British team used Mercedes engines.
Vasseur therefore described Hamilton as having effectively spent around two decades inside the Mercedes environment before suddenly having to start again with a completely different Formula 1 organisation. Even familiar systems could use different terminology, while Hamilton also had to learn how to work within an operation involving around 2,000 people.
The Frenchman conceded that he had underestimated the scale of that challenge. If he could repeat the process, Vasseur explained that he would devote much more time to Hamilton and the wider team in order to develop stronger relationships with the engineers from the beginning.
Those adaptation difficulties became one of the defining themes of Hamilton’s first Ferrari campaign, with the seven-time world champion facing a major adjustment to life and working methods at Maranello after more than a decade at Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc already knew Ferrari inside out
The scale of Hamilton’s task was amplified by the comparison on the other side of the garage. Charles Leclerc had been racing for Ferrari since 2019 and already possessed years of experience with the team’s systems, personnel and methods when his new team-mate arrived.
Hamilton, by contrast, needed to adapt simultaneously to a new car, new processes and an entirely different engineering environment. He had won six of his seven Formula 1 world championships at Mercedes while working closely with Peter Bonnington, creating one of the longest and most successful driver-engineer partnerships in the sport.
That stability was absent during his debut Ferrari campaign. Hamilton did not develop the same level of understanding with race engineer Riccardo Adami, and Vasseur eventually made a change to the engineering structure at the end of the season.
Communication between Hamilton and his pit wall became a recurring subject during 2025, including occasions when the information provided to the driver contributed to frustration. One example came when Ferrari’s radio communication with Lewis Hamilton came under scrutiny in Mexico.
Ferrari’s poor 2025 car made Hamilton’s transition even harder
Vasseur also believes the competitive situation intensified the difficulty. Hamilton’s arrival coincided with one of Ferrari’s weakest Formula 1 seasons of the 21st century, as the Scuderia failed to win a Grand Prix and finished only fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
Charles Leclerc managed seven podium finishes but could climb no higher than fifth in the Drivers’ Championship. Hamilton, meanwhile, completed an entire campaign without standing on a Grand Prix podium for the first time in his Formula 1 career.
The Briton himself described the experience as a nightmare as the enormous expectations surrounding his switch collided with Ferrari’s lack of performance. The team’s problems ultimately became part of a wider strategic choice to direct increasing attention towards the new regulations, raising questions over how much Ferrari sacrificed in 2025 to prepare for 2026.
For Vasseur, the car’s limitations were an important part of the context. He argued that Hamilton was immediately exposed to enormous criticism when he failed to qualify on pole position at his first race, even though Ferrari did not have an exceptional car with which to meet those expectations.
Fred Vasseur criticises media coverage of Hamilton’s struggles
The Ferrari team principal was particularly unhappy with how the difficulties were portrayed. Vasseur felt journalists enjoyed the narrative surrounding Hamilton’s problems and believed the situation became exaggerated far beyond its proper scale.
His frustration centred on the level of expectation attached to the transfer. Hamilton’s arrival generated extraordinary attention before he had completed a competitive lap for Ferrari, and Vasseur believes that meant ordinary adaptation difficulties immediately became major stories.
In his view, criticism arrived almost instantly when Hamilton was not fighting for pole position, while insufficient attention was given to the limitations of Ferrari’s 2025 package. That combination made an already demanding transition even more difficult for a driver learning a completely unfamiliar team.
The wider difficulties experienced by the Briton prompted extensive debate throughout the season over what Ferrari needed to change, with former team personnel among those to analyse Lewis Hamilton’s early struggles at Maranello.
Lewis Hamilton’s 2026 turnaround changes the picture
The contrast with 2026 has been significant. After questions emerged last year over how long the Ferrari-Hamilton partnership could realistically continue, the British driver has responded with five podium finishes this season.
Most importantly, Hamilton finally secured his first Grand Prix victory for Ferrari in Barcelona, providing the breakthrough that had eluded him throughout his debut campaign. His improved results have transformed the discussion around a partnership that looked under considerable pressure only months earlier.
That recovery also places Vasseur’s reflections on 2025 in a different context. Rather than viewing Hamilton’s difficulties solely through the driver’s performance, the Ferrari boss now acknowledges that the team itself could have done more to accelerate his integration and support the enormous organisational change involved in leaving Mercedes.
Attention is now turning towards Hamilton’s longer-term future. Rumours suggest Ferrari could announce a contract extension for the seven-time world champion ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
If that extension materialises, the partnership would move forward from a much stronger position than it occupied at the end of 2025. Vasseur’s admission nevertheless provides an important insight into the problems behind Hamilton’s difficult first season: Ferrari successfully completed one of Formula 1’s biggest-ever driver signings, but underestimated how much work would be required once he actually arrived at Maranello.
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