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| Lewis Hamilton was downbeat post-race in Las Vegas |
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has claimed Lewis Hamilton‘s sullen comments at Formula 1‘s Las Vegas Grand Prix were a “normal” response to a disappointing weekend.
Hamilton’s tumultuous debut campaign with Ferrari reached a new low at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit as he was dumped out in Q1 with the slowest lap time in the wet.
Despite recovering 10 spots to come home in 10th, which became eighth once the McLaren drivers were excluded, Hamilton was downbeat when speaking post-race.
The Briton said that he took zero positives from his comeback drive, citing that he has encountered “22 bad weekends” across what has been his “worst season ever”.
However, Vasseur insisted that he saw little issue with Hamilton’s morose remarks, highlighting that such a demeanour is to be expected when the dust hasn’t settled.
“You know perfectly the system,” he told Motorsport Week. “The TV pen, five minutes after the race, when you have a tough race, it’s very harsh for them.
“I can perfectly understand the adrenaline, the emotion, and to have a comment a bit harsh at this stage of the weekend. And I would say that it’s normal.
“I don’t know if normal is the right word, but I prefer to have drivers being very open at the end of the race when you didn’t do the perfect job, when the car was not good, to say, ‘Okay, I’m frustrated’. And someone going to the TV pen saying, ‘I know, guys, the team is perfect, the car is good, blah, blah, blah’. In this case, you would be upset.
“You can’t blame them in any circumstances and I think it’s quite normal as a human, sometimes on the radio or just after the session, to be a bit, not upset, but to be a bit on the emotion.
“Now the most important is not what they say on the TV pen, it’s what they do on the Monday morning with the team to try to do better and to try to push the team to do better. This is more the job of the drivers than the TV pen.”
Vasseur has contended that various incidents over recent race weekends have conspired to generate results that haven’t mirrored Hamilton’s overall competitiveness.
“Yes, it’s true that on the mathematical side the last couple of weekends were very difficult with Brazil DNF, Mexico the penalty, and this one,” he acknowledged.
“But overall I think Mexico, Austin, it was probably also the best weekend of Lewis in terms of pure performance.
“But now it’s true for the team also and we didn’t put everything together the last two hours of the weekend, and it’s why on the mathematical side and on the championship we did a huge step down.
“But in terms of pure performance I think it’s also why we are not in so bad shape compared to the mid-season.
“I can understand the reaction from Lewis just after the race, but we just have to calm down, to discuss and to be focused on the next two, because the next two we will be back.
“Keep in mind also that Lewis was there in FP1, in FP3 with the pace was good and we have to build up the weekend like this and to start from P20 is not the best way to have a good result.”
Ferrari insists Hamilton struggles not down to ‘performance’
And while he has ruled out his prospects improving over the remaining races, Vasseur believes a clean weekend is the sole thing eluding the seven-time F1 champion.
“Today it’s difficult, but if you have a look on the last couple of races that we are speaking about, Mexico it’s a matter of [a] penalty that he was able to be on the podium,” he reiterated.
“I don’t think that we have to change completely, it’s a matter more to put everything together and I think we are struggling to have a clean weekend.
“But it’s either the penalty or contact with [Franco] Colapinto [in Brazil] or the quali yesterday and it’s not pure performance, not only pure performance.
“For sure we have to improve on performance, this is clear, but it’s more the way you build up the weekend and how you do the expectations and the track preparation.”
Vasseur has conceded that the results not matching the high hopes that Hamilton harboured upon his arrival at the team have contributed to his emotional outbursts.
Asked whether he thinks Hamilton not hitting the heights that he is accustomed to has caused his pride to be hurt to a certain extent, the Frenchman responded: “Yes.
“I think you can understand that it’s normal that Lewis is not happy with P10 in Vegas and Ferrari is not happy with P10 in Vegas and Ferrari is not happy with P6 in Vegas.
“But now the reaction is to work together to try to do a better job next week and it’s the life of the team.
“If you remember, Max [Verstappen] was P11 in Budapest and it was not the absolute drama,” referencing the turnaround Red Bull has managed since the summer break.
“We need to keep this approach and to come back again and again and to try to push again and again and to try to do a better job.
“The frustration is normal. I would be worried if we didn’t have this kind of frustration when we are doing P10.”
- Taylor Powling
