Table of Content
Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Fred Vasseur has confirmed that he cleared the air with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton following their high-profile first-lap collision at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Mexican Grand Prix Clash and Fallout
During the opening lap at the Mexico City event, Hamilton and Leclerc went off track while battling for the lead. Hamilton lost a position to Max Verstappen, while Leclerc received a penalty and ultimately surrendered the lead to the Red Bull driver. Verstappen secured the victory, with Hamilton finishing second and Leclerc missing the podium in fourth place, denying the Scuderia a potential third win of the season.
Hamilton expressed intense frustration over Leclerc’s driving style, urging the stewards to issue a heavier penalty to his team-mate for cutting the track. The seven-time world champion called for serious discussions with Leclerc and Vasseur regarding how aggressively his team-mate raced him. Meanwhile, Vasseur voiced annoyance over what he perceived as a lack of respect toward the 2,000 factory employees striving to deliver a winning car.
Clearing the Air in Sao Paulo
Those discussions took place on Thursday evening in Sao Paulo. Speaking publicly for the first time since the race in Mexico, Vasseur emphasized that the directive given to both drivers was unmistakable, stating that the team must always take precedence.
“The guidelines are always the same. They are two competitors with a fighting spirit for sure, but they need to have respect for each other,” Vasseur said. “But mainly and firstly, they need to respect the brand, the team, the people working at home, the people working on track. I think we are putting a lot of effort on this and the message was clear and will stay clear.”
Assessing Driver Aggression
Addressing Hamilton’s Thursday remarks agreeing that Leclerc raced him harder than other competitors, Vasseur referenced Leclerc’s aggressive overtaking maneuver on Verstappen in Austin to minimize those assertions.
“He said that he was fighting probably a bit harder with him than with some others, but if you have a look at what Charles did in Austin in the first sector, everybody said that it was magic,” Vasseur said. “The line is fine between the two. But he didn’t crash into the other car.”
The French team principal added: “For sure, in this situation, we failed collectively because we were one and two and we didn’t win the race at the end. That means that it’s clear that we failed and we have to react. But the conclusion of the meeting yesterday evening was clear that it was a clear reminder that the Ferrari is coming first, is coming first for the brand, for the employees, for the Tifosi, and this we have to keep it in mind.”
