Fred Vasseur hints at potential Ferrari team orders change

Fred Vasseur has suggested he will discuss team orders with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc after the Italian Grand Prix.

Until now, the Ferrari team principal has been reticent to implement them and was quick to highlight how McLaren would have handed Max Verstappen the F1 drivers' championship last season if the Woking-based squad had backed Oscar Piastri at this stage of the campaign.

However, with Hamilton's advantage over Leclerc growing to 36 points after the Monegasque driver crashed out at Monza, Vasseur has indicated a willingness to consider them.

The subject came acutely back into focus at the Temple of Speed, when the two drivers clashed through the opening chicane on the first lap, which cost Hamilton dearly.

The seven-time F1 drivers' champion had got up the inside of his team-mate into Turn 1, which put him on the outside for Turn 2, with Leclerc — intended or otherwise — shuffling him out wide onto the gravel.

Hamilton dropped to tenth, costing the Scuderia any opportunity to work together strategically. Not that it would matter, with Leclerc crashing heavily at the Curva Alboreto (the Parabolica) the following lap.

Vasseur, however, did not want to talk about the first lap incident until he had been given the chance to address it with his drivers.

"I spoke with Lewis for two seconds, and not at all with Charles, so we have had no time to discuss it," he responded to media, including RacingNews365, when asked if he had spoken to his drivers about the incident on the first lap.

When the follow-up pressed him on whether he had any thoughts on what happened, Vasseur replied: "No, I prefer to discuss with them first rather than with you first."

McLaren and Max Verstappen comparison

Hamilton has been calling for Ferrari to start prioritising him in his bid for a record-breaking eighth F1 drivers' championship, but he slumped to 76 points adrift of Kimi Antonelli after his sixth-place finish at Monza.

The 41-year-old called out the Italian team in his post-race media duties, lamenting the lack of rules of engagement, something he believes must be addressed, particularly after his clash with Leclerc.

And as for the possibility of the Prancing Horse throwing its weight behind him, Hamilton added: "It's far too late for those decisions to come. It's many, many weeks too late."

Vasseur, on the other hand, sees the situation differently, and feels that only now is it the time to consider enacting team orders.

"For sure, the outcome of [Turns] 1 and 2 is not good for the team, if that's the question," the Frenchman said, opening up about the first lap.

"Now, to see if we have a team order or whatever, I think that the good comparison that I made was that last year Piastri was leading McLean at this stage of the season, and if McLaren put everything on Piastri, Max Verstappen would have been champion."

"But for sure, at one stage you have to make a decision. But I think it was too early to make a decision before Monza. Now we have time to discuss with the guys."