Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur recently talked about how his team needs to solely focus on their car’s performance after Lewis Hamilton joins them for the 2025 F1 season. He mentioned that there won’t be any grand show for the seven-time world champion’s arrival at the Italian team.
While many expect a massive introduction for Lewis Hamilton as he enters Ferrari, the team’s boss, Frederic Vasseur has other plans.
During Ferrari’s end-of-season press conference, he said that the team needed to be focused on their performance right after Hamilton’s arrival.
“No, no, we have to be focused on the season. It will be a very tight period between the first day and the launch, it’s a matter of weeks and I want to have everybody focused on performance,” Vasseur said.
Mentioning how the F1 season launch and car launch would hardly allow the team additional time to host another event to welcome Hamilton, Vasseur added:
“It means that we will have the launch of the championship [on Feb. 18], we will have the launch of the car [on Feb. 19]. For me, it’s already two events, and it’s far too much. It’s far enough, let’s say and…no, no, I want to be focused on development performance and not to do the show.”
Hamilton’s arrival to the Maranello-based team is imminent with 2024 coming to an end. The Brit has already bid a long and emotional farewell to Mercedes, with whom he won six of his seven titles, and helped the team win eight consecutive constructors’ titles.
Ferrari team boss not worried about Lewis Hamilton’s questionable performances in 2024
Frederic Vasseur said he was not worried about Lewis Hamilton’s performance dips in the 2024 F1 season as he joined Ferrari in 2025. Speaking to Sky Sports, Vasseur praised Hamilton’s performances in various races and talked about his mental state and understands how difficult it can be to manage it.
“He had very good races in Vegas and in Abu Dhabi. And I was never – really, never, never, never – worried about this situation. This situation, and I don’t criticise Lewis or Mercedes, but this situation is not easy to manage. And I can understand that if it’s not going very well, you can suffer in this relationship,” Vasseur said.
“He was not very well in his mind, but he was clear in Brazil about this, for example. But he also did very well in the last couple of events, so I’m not worried at all,” he added.
The 2024 F1 season has been Lewis Hamilton’s worst year since he joined the sport in 2007. He finished seventh with only 223 points, which is the lowest position he ever secured in his career.