Fred Vasseur has stopped humouring Lewis Hamilton on the question the seven-time world champion has been pressing all summer. Ferrari, the team principal said, will not designate a lead driver, and Hamilton knew that when he signed.
“We chose not to have a number one, but two drivers capable of winning and to treat them equally. Drivers know this very well when they join us. Lewis knew it, of course, it’s written in the contract.”
Those comments, carried by Scuderiafans this month, close a debate Hamilton has been trying to reopen since Ferrari’s two drivers began colliding on track. Vasseur described the policy as “a strategic choice” of running “two number ones, with the advantages and disadvantages that can bring”.
The Monza crash that turned up the volume
Hamilton’s frustration hit its peak at Monza on 6 September, when he went up the inside of Charles Leclerc at Turn 1 and ended up in the gravel at the exit of Turn 2. He recovered to sixth. Leclerc’s race ended in the barriers at Parabolica after running over a drainage grate.
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Hamilton’s own verdict on the afternoon was blunt.
“A bit devastating. Tough one to swallow. Lost a lot of points and ultimately couldn’t keep a Mercedes engine behind.”
Italian media reported in the days after Monza that Hamilton had asked Ferrari’s leadership for clearer rules of engagement between him and his teammate, arguing the season had already got away from him.
Two ignored pit orders in the Netherlands
The Monza flashpoint followed a similar squeeze at Zandvoort on 23 August, where Leclerc twice ignored instructions to pit while Hamilton closed on him at almost a second a lap. Over team radio, Leclerc pushed back at his engineer.
“What do you mean? That f*cks my race, I stop two laps after Russell.”
Hamilton, stuck in his teammate’s dirty air, offered a flatter reading of the same problem.
“Big waste of time guys, good job.”
Leclerc finally boxed on a third instruction. Hamilton finished fourth, Leclerc fifth.
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A title fight already gone
Whatever leverage Hamilton might have had for a mid-season rethink evaporated the following weekend. Brake failure ended his race after seven laps at Madrid while Kimi Antonelli won again for Mercedes, pushing the 20-year-old’s championship lead over Hamilton to 101 points with Ferrari’s driver third on 191.
Leclerc sits fifth on 167, 24 behind his teammate. Vasseur was asked whether that gap should make Hamilton the priority.
“I don’t think so.”
The team principal did leave a narrow opening.
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“He might be by the end of the year if, at some point, we find ourselves in a situation where it’s clear he’s the only contender.”
With Antonelli 101 clear, that scenario is no longer live.
Hamilton pushed back on Thursday at Maranello against an Italian newspaper report that he had asked for staff to be moved out.
“I’ve never asked for anyone on my team to be replaced,” he said, adding that watching Mercedes execute strategy calls faster than Ferrari had been hard to sit with.
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