Vasseur was answering questions about his two drivers when Wolff leaned in.

“Fred here doesn’t need any advice from me, but it’s like déjà vu,” Wolff told reporters in São Paulo.

“You’ve asked me exactly the same questions for how many years? 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.”

Those four seasons are the ones in which Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fought each other for the Mercedes drive and three world titles between them. The relationship broke down publicly more than once, and the lap-one collision between the two team-mates at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix pushed Wolff to threaten both drivers with race suspensions if there was a repeat.

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Two strong drivers, familiar edges

Wolff framed what is happening at Ferrari as the price of pairing two fast team-mates at the sharp end of the grid. Putting two drivers of that calibre together in cars that race at the front always creates a situation that is hard to manage under media scrutiny, he told Crash.net.

“In that respect, I can so relate to what Fred goes through at the moment,” Wolff said.

He hinted that the fix sometimes has to be painful.

“And I think sometimes it needs the really tough ones, where, like the last one, to make a point.”

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The Mercedes pair only truly settled, by Wolff’s own public account at the time, after that Barcelona collision. Rosberg retired at the end of the 2016 season with the title in hand, and Wolff never had to manage the dynamic again.

The Mexico City flashpoint

The trigger was the opening lap of the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday, 1 November. Hamilton started from pole and defended from Leclerc into Turn 4; the two ran side by side, both cut the corner and Leclerc emerged in front. The stewards gave Leclerc a five-second penalty for forcing his team-mate off, and the race was won by Max Verstappen, with Hamilton second.

Leclerc himself did not contest the sanction.

“The penalty was deserved in a way. I kept the position and took a deserved penalty,” he told Formula1.com.

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Hamilton was less philosophical. He believed a Ferrari one-two had been thrown away in the first two corners.

“Ultimately, it was that, that lost us the win. I think we have to have some serious talks behind the scenes, for sure,” he told Sky Sports.

Vasseur: talks already done

Those talks happened on the eve of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend. Vasseur confirmed to reporters at Interlagos that he had sat down with both drivers.

“It went well. It was good to discuss things and clarify my position and their positions.”

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The Ferrari principal was blunt about where his loyalty sits.

“Ferrari comes first, for the brand, for the employees and for the Tifosi.”

Hamilton and Leclerc are back on track at Interlagos this weekend, with the São Paulo Grand Prix the next test of how long Vasseur’s clear-the-air meeting holds.

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