When you rent a seven-time world champion with twenty years of F1 expertise, you aren’t simply hiring a driver.
Fred Vasseur knew full effectively that by bringing in Hamilton final yr, rekindling a working relationship from the ART Grand Prix days in GP2, he would topic Maranello to a power of nature. A single-minded veteran figuring out full effectively what he does and does not make him tick, having been used to 12 years of engineering excellence at Mercedes and shifting to a group hadn’t seen title profitable success in its present iteration.
At 41, Hamilton’s Ferrari revival has been one in every of the standout tales of the 2026 F1 season. To Ferrari, it has additionally been a shock to the system.
Over a troublesome 2025 marketing campaign Hamilton struggled to click on with his new surroundings. Not by an absence of attempting, but as a result of the automotive, the engineering set-up and different parts of how Maranello operated did not mesh with what he had been accustomed to.
Hamilton needed to see a group that was pushing the boundaries rather more on innovation, serving to group boss Fred Vasseur push by a cultural shift to develop into much less threat averse. Hamilton additionally credited Vasseur with “moving mountains in order to make me comfortable”, from shaking up his engineering group to switching brake configuration.
That’s simpler stated than carried out at a 1000+ workers organisation, which will be resistant to alter and take years to show round. And F1’s value cap additionally means squads must be sensible and environment friendly about any drastic adjustments at the manufacturing unit that compete with the group’s improvement price range.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images through Getty Images
Speaking completely to Autosport, Vasseur revealed that he couldn’t accommodate each change Hamilton had requested for.
When requested if there was ever any hesitation given the variety of adjustments Hamilton requested, Vasseur laughed: “Yes, but we did not do all the pieces that he needed! But strategies are all the time welcome. That’s true for Lewis, it’s true for Charles. It’s true for each single driver. After each single occasion they’re coming with an inventory of issues that they wish to enhance.
“On this checklist, some are out of the scope, as a result of you possibly can’t do that for the group, and so they can perceive in a short time that from a group perspective, it is unnecessary for the value cap or no matter it is.
“Sometimes they don’t have the full vision of the situation, but at least it’s good for me to understand where they are feeling we are weak. And sometimes with their input you understand something because you were focused on the team vision, and you understand that for the drivers it’s a bit different.”
Vasseur admitted Hamilton’s arrival was a shock to Ferrari’s system. But the Briton’s in depth Mercedes stint, figuring out what a title profitable outfit seems to be and operates like, was helpful to the total improvement of the group as it aimed to assault the 2026 rules head on.
“It’s good to shake the system a little bit,” Vasseur defined. “If you keep in your bubble all your life with the identical folks, at one stage you’ll wrestle to enhance. It’s true for the drivers. It’s true for the engineers once you recruit folks from different groups.
Ferrari’s SF-26 is filled with innovation, together with a broadly copied exhaust winglet.
Photo by: Marcel van Dorst / EYE4images / NurPhoto through Getty Images
“This is the good facet of F1, that we have now three or 4 groups capable of put a automotive inside 0.050s in dash qualifying in Zandvoort, taking completely different instructions with a unique idea on the automotive, completely different engines, completely different technique, and so forth. At the finish of that, we’re all in the identical ballpark. That’s why typically recruiting folks from different groups with a unique imaginative and prescient helps.
“The most difficult part is to consider the integration of these guys as an added value, not as a disturbing process. But it’s true for the engineers. It’s true also for the drivers. If you can take the best from their know-how, you will improve.”
Between Hamilton and Leclerc, who’s on the right track to develop into Ferrari’s most tenured driver throughout the 2027 season, Vasseur feels he has a “very open discussion” on the place the group must go subsequent.
“One of the key qualities of drivers is to be able to contribute to the development of the team,” he stated. “The worst-case situation is that once you begin the dialogue and you’ve got the feeling that the different is looking for an excuse, but when you’ve a very good relationship, it’s by no means an excuse.
“I think we have this positive attitude to help each other and to understand that the other can have a different view. I’m not always right. I’m not always wrong, and it’s only by collaboration, discussion, exchange that we will improve.”
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– The Autosport.com Team