Ferrari are bracing for a searching winter of self-examination as Fred Vasseur made it clear that lifting Lewis Hamilton’s fortunes in 2026 will demand more than a single tweak or silver bullet.
Instead, the Scuderia boss has thrown the spotlight on the fundamentals of the collaboration – between driver, engineers and the wider team – after a bruising first season for the seven-time world champion in red.
Hamilton’s debut year at Maranello ended without a podium, with sixth place in the championship and a yawning points gap to Charles Leclerc. As the Scuderia pivots toward 2026, Vasseur isn’t looking for excuses; he’s looking for a scalpel to dissect every millisecond left on the track.
The Search for Synergy
The most glaring friction point has been the cockpit-to-pit-wall radio link. The partnership between Hamilton and race engineer Riccardo Adami was frequently punctuated by awkward silences and prickly exchanges, fueling rumors that a change is imminent.
When pressed on whether Adami would remain in Hamilton’s ear for the 2026 campaign, Vasseur didn't offer a vote of confidence, stating simply: “We’re evaluating all options.”
The Frenchman is well aware that the chemistry isn't just about a friendly chat; it’s about a technical shorthand that currently feels lost in translation.
“We need to improve our collaboration. He needs to try to get more out of the car he has. Every detail counts,” Vasseur told Corriere Della Sera.
“It’s also about understanding each other better – we know each other better on the other side of the garage [Leclerc] – knowing what Lewis needs and what he wants. I also need to understand what he wants.”
The Price of a Tenth
In the modern era of Formula 1, where the grid is compressed like a spring, Vasseur admits he may have miscalculated the sheer gravity of Hamilton’s jump from Brackley to Maranello.
"I think it was difficult for Lewis, and it's too small a word probably, but it was difficult because after 20 years - I say 20 years because for me McLaren was McLaren-Mercedes and then Mercedes - he spent 20 years with Mercedes, it was a huge change," Vasseur acknowledged.
"I personally underestimated the step. It's not that we are doing worse or better, it's that we are just doing differently."
That "difference" manifested in a lack of rhythm that cost Hamilton dearly in qualifying sessions where the margins were razor-thin.
"It's not just about the food or the weather, it's that every single software is different, every single component is different, the people around him, they were different, and if you are not on the top of everything, you leave on the table a couple of hundredths of seconds, and today with the field that we have, I think it was in Abu Dhabi in Q2 that you had one tenth covering P5 and P15," Vasseur explained.
"We were not in full control of every single detail and package, and we lost a bit of the path of the season like this.”
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Looking toward the 2026 regulation change, Vasseur’s message is clear: there is no "magic bullet" coming to save them. The resurgence of the Hamilton-Ferrari dream depends on a relentless, microscopic audit of their work.
"I think it has to come from everywhere. I think that the mindset of the team and the mindset of the driver has to be that let's try to do a better job everywhere," the Scuderia chief insisted.
"It's not that you have something which is going well and the rest is going wrong. At the end of the day, we have to improve.
“We have to improve into the collaboration with Lewis. We have to improve on the team. He has to improve perhaps on how he gets the best from the car that he has."
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The Ferrari boss concluded with a reminder that elite performance is the sum of tiny parts.
"It's not that when you are three tenths behind someone, it's not that they have the magic bullet or they have the component in the car with three tenths faster,” he concluded.
“Quite often, it's that you have 10 topics where you are three hundredths of a second slower. One after one, we have to tackle each point."
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