Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has defended Lewis Hamilton's bombshell comments at the Hungarian Grand Prix, believing his star driver is "not demotivated."
After qualifying 12th at the Hungaroring, Hamilton claimed he was "useless" and that Ferrari should consider signing "another driver", as team-mate Charles Leclerc took pole.
Hamilton's move to Ferrari has not gone to plan so far, with the seven-time champion still without a grand prix podium for the Scuderia despite winning the Chinese Sprint and finishing third in the shorter Miami race.
Hamilton has a two-year contract with the option for a third at Maranello, and confirmed he would be at the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break as Vasseur defended his driver.
"I don't need to motivate him, honestly, he is frustrated but not demotivated," Vasseur replied when asked by RacingNews365 how Hamilton could be motivated.
"It is a completely different story, and I can perfectly understand the situation, and sometimes you are making comments when the driver is saying in the car, but if you put the microphone on football players, I'm not sure it would be much better.
"You know that sometimes they make comments when they jump out of the car, and I can understand the frustration; we are all frustrated.
"Sometimes, after the race or qualifying, you are very disappointed, and the first reaction is harsh, but we all know that we are pushing in the right direction.
"I would prefer to be P1 and P1 [in qualifying and races], but we know that the season is completely different, it is very tight, and if you're not on the pace, you can be P14 in qualifying."
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