'I know that you want to have the big headlines': Ferrari boss unleashes on Lewis Hamilton form slump claims
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has unleashed on suggestions Lewis Hamilton is in a form slump after another disappointing performance in Saudi Arabia.
The seven-time world champion crossed the line seventh in Jeddah, and was comfortably the slowest driver among the lead four teams of McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari.
Doing the media rounds after the race, a dejected Hamilton declared his performance "horrible" and the prospects of the balance of his 2025 season as "painful".
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Vasseur later brushed off concerns of Hamilton's demeanor and headspace, and backed his star driver "2000 per cent".
"I will give him support and we will start from tomorrow morning to try to find solutions and reasons and to work on it early in the morning," he said after the race.
Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur. Formula 1 via Getty Images
"But honestly, I am not too worried. If you have a look on what he did in China or what he did in the race in Bahrain last week or even on the first part of the session in this weekend, the potential is there for sure.
"We just have to adjust the balance because we are, collectively, Lewis and us, we are struggling with the balance of his car and [how] he is working the tyres.
"It's a kind of negative spot but I think the potential of the car is there and we will try to solve that."
Hamilton's best finish for the year is a fifth in Bahrain. He finished sixth in China before he was disqualified for a technical breach. He'd won the sprint race from pole position just a day earlier.
The Frenchman was then asked how Hamilton's form had dipped so "dramatically".
"It's not dramatically – we did five races so far," Vasseur said.
Hamilton has cut a dejected figure at recent race meetings. NurPhoto via Getty Images
"I know that you want to have the big headlines tomorrow that 'Fred said this', but this is f---ing bullshit. At the end of the day, we are in competition. You have ups and downs.
"When we have up, we are not world champions. When we have down, we are not nowhere. It's just a competition."
Vasseur also expressed frustration the same questions weren't asked of Max Verstappen after he finished a lowly sixth in Bahrain.
"It is like it is. The competition is tight. You have 10 cars and a couple of tenths (between them)," he said.
"Have a look at Max. He won in Japan. He finished 30 seconds behind [Oscar] Piastri in Bahrain, and in Saudi Arabia he was P2 and had pole position.
"We just have to stay calm ... at least for us as a team, we have to work step by step.
"I think it paid off last year to do hundredths of seconds and hundredths of seconds and we need to keep the same approach.
"I will never be the guy who says we are world champions or we are nowhere.
The seven-time world champion finished only seventh in Saudi Arabia. Getty
"We are a team. We are struggling on the weekend. We have good results on the weekend. It's just that we have to improve step by step and stay calm."
In Saudi Arabia, Charles Leclerc crossed the line third to give the Scuderia its first podium finish for the year. Hamilton finished more than 30 seconds later.
"Nothing positive to take ... apart from Charles on the podium, which is great for the team," he said post-race.
"It was horrible, not enjoyable at all. I was just sliding around. It's pretty bad.
"I don't know how much longer I'll struggle for but it's definitely painful. Just going to try and improve from week to week.
"At the moment there is no fix so this is how it's going to be for the rest or the year. It's going to be painful.
"In qualifying it's me extracting performance and in the race I tried everything and the car just didn't want to go any quicker."
