Fred Vasseur warned Lewis Hamilton 'could cost him his job'

Former F1 driver Derek Daly believes Fred Vasseur could lose his team principal job at Ferrari for his decision to sign Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton joined the Italian squad at the start of the year, bringing an end to his successful association with Mercedes.

However, Hamilton has been left frustrated for much of the campaign as he has often lacked confidence behind the wheel of the Ferrari challenger.

The seven-time champion is yet to score his first podium with his new squad, while team-mate Charles Leclerc has finished inside the top three on five occasions so far this year.

Hamilton's struggles behind the wheel date back to the current generation of car that was introduced in 2022 - however, the grid is preparing for a reset next season when fresh technical regulations will come into effect.

Daly, however, does not believe it will be the answer to Hamilton's pain and predicted his poor form will result in Vasseur losing his position as team principal.

“The move by Hamilton to Ferrari could ultimately cost Fred Vasseur his job,” Daly exclusively told RacingNews365.

“Lewis Hamilton was one of the most gifted racing athletes the world has ever seen.

“But I think we've seen his best days. Physiologically, you just can't have instincts and reflexes at 40 years of age that 20-year-olds have.

“That's just a fact of life. It's human nature. I don't think Hamilton has access to those gifts at the level he had in the past.

“Ferrari made a marketing decision to bring Hamilton, a brilliant one, but not a competitive decision.

“The team has suffered. I think Hamilton has suffered, and I do not see it getting better.

“I do not see more success for Lewis at the level he had in the past at Ferrari.

“The best thing that could happen is that Lewis realises that and [he] makes the decision himself to go off and do the next step of his career.

“Ferrari [then] get a driver who is young, aggressive and can contribute at a higher level than Lewis can in the years to come.”

Charles Leclerc-Carlos Sainz line-up saw Ferrari 'operate at higher level'

Vasseur's position at Ferrari was the subject of much speculation this year before he was signed to a new multi-year deal in July.

The Frenchman was integral to bringing in Hamilton to Ferrari, opting to change its driver line-up and replace Carlos Sainz after the Spaniard's fourth season with the team.

Daly stressed letting the Spaniard go from Ferrari was a mistake, stating Leclerc and Sainz complemented one another as team-mates.

“When Leclerc was matched with Sainz, the team ran at a higher level than it has for years,” he said.

“Ideally, you want each driver to give different levels of input for the engineers. I believe Leclerc is an instant reflex driver - brilliantly fast, will drive the wheels off the car, but I'm not convinced his feedback leads the engineers where they need to go.

“I think Sainz is more of an engineer leader with feedback and when the two of them were at Ferrari, you covered both.

“Leclerc went so fast, he pushed Sainz, and Sainz was so good to try and get cars developed that they had a great combination.

“I don't think Ferrari has that anymore.

“I think they're both instant reflex drivers, brilliantly gifted and fast, but I think the team has lost that value that Sainz brought to the engineers to continue to develop the car.”