Ferrari isn’t shining and in Miami a secret meeting took place between Lewis Hamilton and Fred Vasseur. The faces didn’t look too happy—what did they talk about? Here’s the answer.
In the heart of the Miami paddock, just hours before the start of the Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton requested a private meeting with Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur. A meeting held away from the spotlight, which took place quietly over breakfast, but now sheds new light on the atmosphere inside the Maranello garage.
Ferrari in full crisis?
The seven-time world champion had only qualified 12th, with Charles Leclerc in 8th. A result far below expectations for a team like Ferrari, which continues to struggle over a single lap compared to direct rivals like McLaren and Mercedes.
The behind-the-scenes details were revealed by L’Équipe journalist Fred Ferret in the F1 Nation podcast: “Hamilton approached Vasseur while they were having coffee in the Ferrari hospitality and said, ‘I want to talk to you about the tyres.’ It was 9 a.m. on race day. He wasn’t complaining, he was trying to help.”
A gesture Ferret called constructive, dismissing any rumors of internal tension: “There’s no issue. It’s easy to write ‘Ferrari, major problems,’ but the reality is more complex. The atmosphere in the garage is calm, 100%, and I’m not joking.”
Charles Leclerc also expressed frustration about qualifying performance, but—like Lewis Hamilton—maintained a collaborative attitude. Both drivers are looking for solutions to improve a technical package that currently doesn’t seem able to fully exploit the tyres in qualifying: “The real issue is not race pace,” added Ferret, “the problem is qualifying well. Charles is one of the best in qualifying. Lewis is the best poleman in history. But if you can’t get the tyres up to temperature, you’re done.”
Radio messages during the race, which showed a particularly sharp Lewis Hamilton with his engineer Riccardo Adami, were downplayed by the British driver himself as simply the result of adrenaline.
Ferret concluded with a comparison to other teams: “It’s always been like that at Ferrari. Remember Sebastian Vettel? He was also tough on the radio. But these are two great drivers who want to beat each other. It’s normal. The problem isn’t the drivers—it’s the car.”
Lewis Hamilton’s journey in red is still in its early stages, but the desire to contribute to the team’s growth—even through private discussions like the one in Miami—remains strong. And for now, from Maranello comes a clear message: no internal crisis, only a hunger to improve.
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