Fredéric Vasseur considered that the episode between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at the Formula 1 Italian GP gained an exaggerated proportion. After talking to both drivers, the Ferrari boss stated that the situation was clarified and asked both to take responsibility for the impact of their attitudes on the team.
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“We had good meetings with Lewis and Charles,” Vasseur told Motorsport.com. “They clarified things together and I reminded them of some fundamental principles of how I manage the team. And I will continue to stick to them. My job is to protect the hundreds of people on the team and take responsibility. That is what I asked the drivers as well: if we want to achieve results, we need to protect the team and each of us needs to take responsibility.”
Vasseur does not want, however, to limit the drivers’ criticism to the press: “I am not asking them to not be open or not be tough. But often they are much calmer with us than when they go to talk to the press,” Vasseur explained. “Lewis told me: ‘Fred, 80% of my message was positive and they took the 20% that was negative.’ But we all know how it works. If you say the team is doing a good job and then add a ‘but’, it is that part that becomes the headline. It is part of the game.”
About the incident in Monza, Vasseur highlighted that Leclerc acknowledged his own mistake. “Charles, after the discussion, said: ‘I was too aggressive.’ And for me, that is fine. When Kimi was fighting with Russell, he ended up in the gravel, just like Lewis did at the start,” Vasseur replied. “But in our case, we very quickly went from an on-track incident to talking about a crisis in how the drivers are being managed. I think both things need to be kept in proper perspective.”
The Ferrari boss also reinforced that there are principles for the disputes between Leclerc and Hamilton, although it is not possible to create rules for every situation: “Saying there are no ‘rules of engagement’ does not reflect reality,” he said. “You cannot expect contracts to cover every possible scenario you might encounter on track, because inevitably everything would become a matter of interpretation. ‘I was there,’ ‘no, you were five centimeters behind’ — you don’t solve anything like that. The principles are clear and the drivers know them.”
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The team will continue to treat both drivers equally until one of them no longer has real chances in the championship.
“Ferrari drivers can count on equal treatment, then there may come a time when we have to make a decision if one of them is out of the fight,” Vasseur said. “In that case, it will be my decision. But until that moment, the treatment will be equal.”
Vasseur also mentioned last season’s McLaren, when Piastri arrived in Monza with more than 30 points over Norris and was instructed to give back second place to his teammate.
“Imagine if McLaren had decided to bet everything on Piastri: maybe Verstappen, who finished three points behind Norris, could have become champion,” he explained. “That is what I told our drivers. We will make a decision when we are closer to the end, why not? But today there is nothing even to discuss.”
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