Vasseur on Hamilton’s Hungary bust: ‘He's frustrated, not demotivated'

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has publicly backed Lewis Hamilton following a bruising Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, downplaying concerns about the seven-time world champion’s mindset after a string of self-critical comments suggested deeper discontent at Maranello.

Hamilton’s weekend in Budapest unraveled early, as he was eliminated in Q2 in qualifying, starting a lowly 12th, while Leclerc outpaced both McLarens to claim pole.

On race day, the Briton predictably struggled in traffic, unable to avoid being lapped, while Leclerc’s podium hopes faded due to an unspecified car issue.

After Saturday’s setback, the seven-time world champion didn’t hide his dismay, suggesting he was “useless” and that Ferrari should consider another driver. Hamilton appeared equally dejected after his challenging run to P12 on Sunday, when asked by Sky F1 to clarify his post-comments from the day before.

"Not particularly, when you have a feeling, you have a feeling. There's a lot going on in the background that's not great, so..." he said.

Vasseur, however, saw Hamilton’s reaction as a natural response to a tough weekend.

“I don’t need to motivate him. Honestly, he’s frustrated, but not demotivated,” he said.

“Yeah, he’s demanding. But I think it’s also why he’s seven times world champion. He’s demanding with the team, with the car, with the engineers, with the mechanics, with myself as well.

“I can perfectly understand the situation. Sometimes you are making comments on what the driver is saying [in] the car, but if you put the microphone on some other sportsmen in football and so on, I’m not sure that it would be much better.”

A Razor-Thin Margin

Vasseur contextualized Hamilton’s struggles, noting the tight midfield battle in qualifying.

“For sure, when you are a seven-time world champion, your team-mate is on pole position and you are out in Q2, it’s a tough situation,” he said.

“But overall, we can also have a deep look that he was in front of Charles in Q1, with the first set that he was one tenth off in Q2. We were not far away from having the two cars out in Q2. And the outcome of this is that Charles at the end is able to do the pole position.

“The issue is that when we were lacking performance and at risk, he did one lap two tenths slower than Charles, and he was out in Q2. I don’t know if we were unlucky with Lewis or lucky with Charles to go through, but at the end of the day, it’s really on the edge.”

Despite Hamilton’s race-long struggle in a DRS train, Vasseur highlighted the Briton’s pace when free.

“But I can understand the frustration from Lewis, that’s normal, and he will come back,” he said. “Then he was stuck in a DRS train, but when he was alone, the pace was good.

“I’m sure that he will be back and he will perform.”

As Ferrari heads into the break, Vasseur’s confidence in Hamilton signals a much needed reset for Maranello’s star.

Read also: Hamilton brands himself ‘useless’ – Ferrari ‘needs to change driver

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