Despondent Hamilton and Ferrari crash back to earth

Daily Tribune

2 days ago

Lewis Hamilton received sup‑ port from his Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur on Sunday just hours after the Briton cut a dejected figure following a lacklustre drive to 12th place in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
While team‑mate Charles Le‑ clerc proved unable to convert Ferrari's first pole position of the season into victory due to unexplained mechanical prob‑ lems during the race, seven‑time champion Hamilton was bat‑ tling to escape midfield and fin‑ ished where he started.
As on Saturday, when he was dumped out of Q2 and ap‑ peared miserable, claiming he was 'completely useless' and saying the team should 'bring in another driver', Hamilton seemed utterly deflated.
To most observers, it appeared as if the pressures of living up to the hype of his spectacular marquee move from Mercedes, where he won six titles, and ad‑ justing to the culture, car and expectations at Ferrari were overwhelming him.
At 40, talk of imminent retire‑ ment circled around him. But Vasseur was swift to de‑ fend Hamilton, who has always been prone to impulsive heart‑ on‑sleeve reactions.
'I don't need to motivate him,' said Vasseur. 'Honestly, he's frustrated, but not demotivated.
'He's demanding, but I think it's also why he's (a) seven‑time world champion. I can perfectly understand this situation.
'Sometimes, you are making comments on what the driver is saying (in) the car, but if you put the microphone on some other sportsmen, in football and so on, I'm not sure that it would be much better. 'Sometimes, just after the race or just after qualifying, you are very disappointed and the first reaction is harsh. I can understand the frustration, but we are all frustrated.'
'He will be back'
Vasseur added Hamilton's weekend appeared worse than it really was because of the tight and competitive times that led him to miss out on reaching Q3 on Saturday.
'For sure, when you are a seven‑time world champion, your team‑mate is on pole posi‑ tion and you are out in Q2, it's a tough situation,' he said.
'But overall, we can also have a deep look that he was in front of Charles in Q1 and with the first set that he was one‑tenth off in Q2. We were not far away from having the two cars out in Q2.
'I can understand the frustra‑ tion from Lewis. That's normal and he will come back. He was stuck in a DRS train, but when he was alone, the pace was good.
'I'm sure that he will be back and he will perform.'
Fourth‑placed Leclerc backed his team‑mate.
'At the end, we are one team and as much as I want to finish in front of Lewis, I want both of us to be successful and for Ferrari to be successful, and ob‑ viously this weekend has been a tough one for Lewis,' Leclerc said.
'But I have no doubt that it's a one‑off and I'm sure the second part of the season will be a lot more positive.'
Hamilton, sixth in the driv‑ ers' standings, but without a podium for Ferrari this year, said he was looking forward to a much‑needed 'break from work' during F1's August hol‑ iday before the Dutch Grand Prix on the final weekend of this month.