Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has called upon Lewis Hamilton to step up and deliver more in the coming weeks. The Frenchman’s rallying cry comes amid a difficult start to life with the team for Hamilton as he continues to take time to adapt to his new surroundings.
The Brit spent 12 years racing for Mercedes and so his switch to Ferrari has been a major adjustment. It is the first time in his whole Formula 1 career that he has used engines other than those created by the Silver Arrows, which is just one of the changes he has to get used to.
Then there is the culture shock of moving to an Italian team, getting to know all his colleagues and then driving a car that is designed and built in a very different way. Not to mention the challenge of going up against one of the top stars on the grid in new team-mate Charles Leclerc.
All those factors have contributed to a difficult first few rounds of the 2025 season. The clear highlight was his sprint race victory in China but, other than that, he has found strong performances and results difficult to come by.
But fifth place in Bahrain last weekend was his best Grand Prix finish of the season so far. And Hamilton said afterwards that he feels he is finally making progress towards getting his car into the sort of setup window in which he can perform.
His team principal Vasseur likes the mindset he has seen from the seven-time F1 champion so far. But he also wants to see more from his new signing while conceding the team itself also has some improving to do.
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Vasseur said: “You won’t replace 12 years of collaboration in two weeks or in two races. That means that, for sure, we need to improve – but I think this is true for everybody in the team, in the paddock.
“We have the DNA for our sport is to try to do a better job and I think it’s good to have Lewis with this mindset to say, ‘OK, I have to improve also myself and to adapt myself to the car.’
“We will work on the car to adapt the car to Lewis, but he also has to do a step. And I think this, between us, is done in a positive way and a very constructive way.”
The Frenchman is also keen to manage expectations for Hamilton’s results this year, given the significant transition he is experiencing. Vasseur added: “We have to stay calm in terms of judgement of the performance because sometimes for almost nothing you can change a good weekend to a very poor one, and visa versa.”
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