Ferrari deliver 'demanding' Lewis Hamilton F1 future verdict

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur can understand the frustration of a 'demanding' Lewis Hamilton after the seven-time champion suggested the Frenchman should seek a replacement.

Hamilton turned on himself on Saturday after qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, describing himself as "absolutely useless", and stating that "the team will need to change driver" as it was clear from Charles Leclerc's pole that the car was not the problem.

Starting from 12th on the grid, Hamilton went on to finish 12th, enduring a skirmish with Red Bull's Max Verstappen along the way as the two bitter title rivals from 2021 fought over 11th position.

Assessing Hamilton's post-qualifying remarks, and what it might mean for his future and that of Ferrari, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, Vasseur said: "He's demanding, but it's also why he's a seven-time world champion. 

"He is demanding with the team, with the car, with the engineers, with the mechanics, with myself, but first of all, he's very demanding with himself.

"When you are a seven-time champion, your teammate is on pole position, and you are out in Q2, it's tough. It's a tough situation.

"Overall, when you take a deep look, he was in front of Charles in Q1, and he was one-tenth off in Q2. We were not far away from having the two cars out in Q2. The outcome is that Charles was able to do the pole position. Honestly, the gap was not 1.2 seconds.

"But I can understand the frustration from Lewis. This is normal, and he will come back to Ferrari. We discussed it a lot [after qualifying]."

Describing Hamilton's race as "difficult", he added: "We took a gamble starting on the hard, and he was stuck in a DRS train. But when he was alone, the pace was good

"I'm sure that he will be back in Zandvoort and he will perform."

Hamilton Verstappen comparison drawn

At times this season, Hamilton has shown pace and performance, and his comments on Saturday were arguably in the heat of the moment, and with his frustration soaring.

Delving further into the qualifying situation between Hamilton and Leclerc, Vasseur said: "The issue is that when we were lacking performance and at risk, he did one lap two-tenths slower than Charles, and he was out in Q2.

"I don't know if we were unlucky with Lewis or lucky with Charles to go through, and for him to be able to compete in Q3 and to do the pole. At the end of the day, it's really on the edge."

Drawing a comparison with Max Verstappen, who also scraped into Q3, Vasseur added: "It was almost the same for Max. I spoke with Laurent [Mekies, Red Bull team principal], and they were quite close to being out.

"It's so tight that you can go out, and it's not because you are out that you are nowhere. If you can compete in Q3, you can have a good result.

"It's true he [Hamilton] had a very good recovery after Miami, Spain, Silverstone, Austria, that he was matching Charles, and even a few times he has been in front of Charles in quali. Last weekend [in Belgium], when he lost the car at Turn 14, he was six-tenths faster than Charles.

"I know the game. You have to finish the lap, and I know the game that you have to finish the race. It makes no sense to lead the race for 40 laps if you are not able to finish. You have to avoid drawing conclusions too quickly."