Ferrari Chief Sends Sly Dig To Mercedes As He Opens Up On How He Will 'Manage' Lewis Hamilton

Saajan Jogia | 16 Hours Ago

2024 Bahrain Test, Day 3 - Lewis Hamilton / Jiri Krenek / Mercedes

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur shared at the team's annual end-of-season press conference that Ferrari will follow a unique approach to "manage" Lewis Hamilton, claiming that the team will not "do a copy-paste" of what was done at Mercedes. Instead, Vasseur stated that Ferrari will use its own staff and resources to support the seven-time world champion. Additionally, the team boss highlighted how the team plans to handle a potential rivalry between Hamilton and his new teammate, Charles Leclerc, in the upcoming season.

Vasseur's comments suggest that Ferrari will rely on its own staff rather than hiring from Mercedes for Hamilton's support. Hamilton shared a close bond with his race engineer, Peter Bonnington (Bono), who has worked with him since he joined Mercedes 12 years ago. However, the rules prevent Bono from switching to Ferrari. Furthermore, Bono has been promoted to a more senior role, although he will continue performing engineering duties for Hamilton's replacement, Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Ferrari has yet to confirm Hamilton's race engineer for the upcoming season, but it is expected that Riccardo Adami, who has worked as Carlos Sainz’s engineer for the past four years, will continue in his role and provide support to the Briton. Revealing that Ferrari's plans will be different from Mercedes's when dealing with Hamilton, Vasseur said:

"The target is not to do a copy-paste of what Lewis is doing and to try to attract all the people from Mercedes and to do a Mercedes team.

"They were not champions the last two or three years, it means that we have to do different and we will do different with our team, our guys and all resources.

"We have to find the best way to manage Lewis. I know him pretty well, but I don't want to do at all a copy-paste of what he did in the past."

Hamilton will team up with Leclerc next year, who showcased impressive pace following Ferrari’s car improvements this season. Regarding a potential rivalry between the two drivers, Vasseur believes it could ultimately benefit the team. He added:

"You know that it's always a challenge.

"I have my challenge this year between Charles and Carlos, but I think it was part of the performance.

"I'm really convinced that the emulation into the team is key for the performance of the team, and between Charles and Carlos, we had some moments.

"But at the end of the day, I think it was beneficial for the performance of the team. Charles, Lewis, I'm not particularly worried about this.

"They have a huge mutual respect, they know each other, they are speaking about this for months now. And I think it's much better to fight for 1-2 or 2-3 on the grid than to fight for 19-20.

"And I think it's a good issue for a team to have this kind of discussion, this kind of approach. And I'm really convinced again that the performance of the team is coming also from the emulation between the two."