Ferrari deliver 'naive' Lewis Hamilton admission after 'underestimating' challenge

Fred Vasseur has conceded that he and Lewis Hamilton "underestimated the change to a different environment" when the British driver joined Ferrari.

The seven-time F1 drivers' champion's switch from Mercedes has been anything but smooth sailing thus far, and his new boss can now recognise how the Italian team "naively" expected too much from Hamilton.

Having endured an underwhelming first 14 rounds with the Scuderia, the 40-year-old cut a crestfallen figure at the recent Hungarian Grand Prix, the final round before the summer break.

His P12 in qualifying at the Hungaroring, where he is usually so imperious, capped off a torrid period for the 105-time grand prix winner, having been roundly beaten by Charles Leclerc over the first part of the season. To make matters worse, his new Ferrari secured pole position on the outskirts of Budapest.

Hamilton branded himself "absolutely useless" and suggested the Prancing Horse needed to "change drivers" to improve results.

However, Vasseur has defended him, explaining that he delta between his two drivers was significantly smaller than it immediately appeared.

"Often it's down to circumstances, and Lewis has been on the unlucky side more often than not recently," the Frenchman told Auto, Motor und Sport.

"In Budapest, he was ahead of Charles in Q1 and was only a tenth slower in Q2. He was 15 thousandths short of advancing. In the end, one is first and the other is twelfth.

"Of course, that looks silly. But it wasn't far off, and we would have ended up in eleventh and twelfth place with our two drivers."

A bigger task than anticipated

Although the 56-year-old did acknowledge that, with hindsight, Hamilton's move to the Maranello-based squad was more upheaval and a bigger transition than first appreciated.

"Looking back, I have to admit that we, by which I mean Lewis and I, underestimated the change to a different environment," Vasseur explained.

"He had been with the same team for 18 years, if I can call McLaren and Mercedes home. It was an English team, and the engine environment always remained the same.

"There is a bigger difference between Ferrari and Mercedes than between Mercedes and McLaren."

He contrasted Hamilton's task against that of his former driver, Carlos Sainz, admitting it was naive to think the former would have "everything under control" having not moved teams in so long, a significant departure from the relative routine of the latter.

"When Lewis arrived at Ferrari, we naively thought that he would have everything under control," Vasseur added.

"He is not like Carlos Sainz, who changes teams every few years and is familiar with the process."

Nonetheless, the Ferrari team principal was keen to stress that since the round in Montreal, four rounds ago, Hamilton has been moving in the right direction.

"It took Lewis four to five races to get the situation under control," he stated before concluding, "Since the Canadian Grand Prix, he has actually been on track."