Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has defended the Italian outfit’s team orders and strategy calls after a contentious Miami Grand Prix, despite the very vocal frustrations of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
Both Ferrari drivers – and Hamilton in particular – aired their dissatisfaction over team radio during the race, expressing their concerns about the timing and execution of the calls.
However, Vasseur stood firm in his post-race comments, stating the decisions were consistent with team policy and made with the team’s best interests in mind.
A Strategic Swap With Ferrari’s Policy in Mind
The flashpoint came midway through the race when Ferrari instructed Leclerc to allow Hamilton through, giving the seven-time world champion a chance to attack Andrea Kimi Antonelli ahead on fresher medium tyres.
But after Hamilton failed to catch the Mercedes rookie, the order was reversed, restoring Leclerc to seventh.
Though both drivers complied with their team’s decisions, their reactions revealed underlying tensions. Still, Vasseur maintained that Ferrari acted decisively and fairly.
©Ferrari
“We have a general policy and we follow the policy,” he explained. “The question is not to swap and to swap back if you don't get the guy who is in front of you.
“The issue at this stage of the race is to understand if the car who is behind is faster than the car who is in the front, or if it's just the DRS effect.”
Vasseur acknowledged the emotional toll of such decisions on highly competitive drivers.
“I had a discussion with Lewis and I can perfectly understand the frustration. They are champions. They want to win races. We are asking them to let their team-mates go. It's not easy. It's never easy.
“And I didn't see another team do it today. That is why we took the responsibility to do it because it's the policy of the team. We are racing for Ferrari first.”
Delay? Not Quite, Says Vasseur
Responding directly to Hamilton’s earlier radio criticism about the timing of the calls, Vasseur pushed back against the idea that the team hesitated or lacked clarity on the pit wall.
“Honestly, I think as a team, we did a good job. Again, we can argue that it would have been better to do it half a lap before or half a lap later.
“But when you are on the pitwall and you have to understand if the car who is behind is faster than the car in front just for DRS or not, it's not an easy call.
Read also:
Leclerc: No ‘bad feelings’ with Hamilton despite Miami strategy clash"It's always much easier to do it two hours later.
“We asked them to do it. They did it. The frustration when you are in the car, I can perfectly understand this. And we had a discussion and it was much more relaxed.”
Vasseur also addressed the perception that decisions were too slow or indecisive, pointing to the delay in team radio broadcasts and the complexity of real-time information processing during a race.
“But the radio transmission, first we have to understand that it's FOM who is managing the delay; it means that sometimes we are asking them something and you have it live half a lap later or one lap later. I already had the case in the past,” Vasseur said.
“And then we have tons of information that we are discussing with them about the set-up of the car and so on. And it's not always easy to ask them to do it before Turn 11 or Turn 17. Honestly, I think that we did what we have to do.
“You can always argue that it would have been better to do it half a lap before or half a lap later, but honestly, we did the job.”
Ferrari leaves Miami still searching for consistency in both strategy and performance — but with its team boss adamant that the tough decisions made were not only justified, but necessary in the pursuit of team success.
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