Frédéric Vasseur dismisses all rumors about an internal crisis at Ferrari. The Frenchman tells Motorsport.com that his drivers have had conversations about the importance of the team and that there is nothing going on between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Vasseur finds it annoying that the incident in Monza between Leclerc and Hamilton is being blown out of proportion.
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“We have had good meetings with Lewis and Charles,” says Vasseur. “They talked it out with each other and I reminded them of fundamental principles about how I run the team and that this will remain the case.”
“My job is to protect hundreds of people in the team and to take responsibility,” explains the Ferrari team principal. “I have asked the drivers to do the same. If we want to achieve results, then we must protect the team and take responsibility.”
Storm in a teacup
“Our drivers speak much more calmly than the media,” concludes Vasseur. “Lewis told me: ‘Fred, 80 percent of what I said was positive and they highlighted the 20 percent.’ But that’s just how it works. If you say the team is doing well, but you add a ‘but’, that becomes the headline.”
“Charles admitted after the race that he was too aggressive. That’s fine with me. Kimi (Antonelli, ed.) fought with George Russell at the end of the race and he also ended up in the gravel trap, just like Lewis. Only in our case, that quickly escalated in the media from an on-track incident to a crisis within management. You have to look at those two things from a different perspective.”
Vasseur therefore has absolutely no preference for either of the two drivers. “Ferrari drivers are treated equally. There may come a point where we have to make a decision because one of the two is out of the fight, and in that case, it is my decision. Until that moment, the drivers are always equal.”
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