Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur is not concerned about Lewis Hamilton’s form as his final season as a Mercedes driver comes to an end, pointing to his performance in Las Vegas as a beacon of hope for the seven-time world champion.
Hamilton’s final months of his glittering 13-year Mercedes career have been largely miserable for the Brit. His immense comeback drive in Las Vegas is his only podium in the last nine Grands Prix, and he has finished eighth or lower five times during that run.
At the heart of the issue has been his qualifying pace. Hamilton has been unable to extract lap time from the W15 in the same way that Russell has this season, and while his race pace has often been immense, compromised grid slots have made it difficult to fight for podiums on a regular basis.
Despite the concerns held by some F1 fans, future Ferrari boss Vasseur does not believe that Hamilton’s skills are declining. “Not at all. Have a look on the 50 laps that he did in Vegas,” he said. “Starting P10, finishing on the gearbox of Russell, I’m not worried at all.”
While Hamilton still undoubtedly has the pace to compete for regular honours when he joins Ferrari, Vasseur will need to rebuild the seven-time world champion’s confidence, particularly when it comes to one-lap pace.
“Who knows? I’m definitely not fast anymore,” he said after sprint qualifying in Qatar. “Same as every other qualifying, not that great. I’m just slow and [it is] same every weekend. So yeah, car felt relatively decent. No, no issues, and not really much more to say.”
While Hamilton did wheel back on his comments somewhat on race day, it is clear that the 39-year-old will not enjoy the fairytale ending that his decorated Mercedes career deserved. A winter of recharging will be necessary to forget the misery that the W15 has inflicted on the Stevenage-born driver.
“I have no clue,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. “I don’t have an answer for you. It’s not been great. At this point, I really don’t care – I just want to get through these last couple of races and do my job, turn up and I’m looking forward to the winter break.
“I woke up this morning and I think the most important thing is to leave with gratitude, so I’m really grateful that I get to do what I love doing even when there are days that I don’t love it as much. I’m really, really so lucky to be here amongst all these other amazing athletes. It’s painful when it doesn’t go well. No one likes losing but that’s a part of the journey.”