'He's not like Carlos Sainz': Fred Vasseur's honest Lewis Hamilton admission

Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz Jr. — Photo: © IMAGO

Ferrari

'He's not like Carlos Sainz': Fred Vasseur's honest Lewis Hamilton admission

Lewis Hamilton replaced Carlos Sainz at Ferrari for 2025

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 10 September 2025 17:57

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Ferrari F1 boss Fred Vasseur has suggested that Lewis Hamilton's struggles to settle in to the team have been because of the direction his career has taken.

Hamilton has not yet secured a grand prix podium with his new team having joined them in January, and the Brit is sat down in sixth in the drivers' championship.

His team-mate Charles Leclerc is 46 points ahead of Hamilton in the drivers' standings, and has achieved five podiums across the first 16 race weekends of the season.

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At 40 years of age, Ferrari are Hamilton's third team, having spent long periods at McLaren and then Mercedes, where he won six of his record-equalling seven world championship titles.

The man he replaced at Ferrari, however, Carlos Sainz, is already on his fifth team at Williams despite only being 31 years of age.

Sainz was displaced at Ferrari by Hamilton's blockbuster transfer, and had a full year to find a new team, eventually landing on Williams with the likes of Red Bull and McLaren not an option for the Spaniard.

Now, Vasseur has pointed at Hamilton's long-term relationships with other teams as a reason for why he has struggled to settle in quickly at Ferrari.

Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, Vasseur said: "Often it's down to circumstances, and Lewis has been on the unlucky side more often than not recently. In Budapest, he was ahead of Charles in Q1 and was only a tenth slower in Q2. He was 15 thousandths short of advancing. In the end, one is first and the other is 12th. Of course, that looks silly. But it wasn't far off, and we could have ended up in 11th and 12th place with both our drivers.

"Looking back, I have to admit that we, by which I mean Lewis and I, underestimated the change to a different environment. He had been with the same team for 18 years, if I can call McLaren and Mercedes home. It was an English team, and the engine environment always remained the same. There is a bigger difference between Ferrari and Mercedes than between Mercedes and McLaren.

"When Lewis arrived at Ferrari, we naively thought that he would have everything under control. He is not like Carlos Sainz, who changes teams every few years and is familiar with the process. It took Lewis four to five races to get the situation under control. Since the Canadian Grand Prix, he has actually been on track."

Can Hamilton get back to race-winning form?

While the SF-25 has not helped Hamilton in 2025, his form compared to Leclerc has been concerning, with the seven-time champion being outqualified on 12 occasions out of 16.

Hamilton will be hoping that in 2026 he will be able to make use of wholesale regulation changes.

Not only will it likely see a shake up of the current competitive order that might make Ferrari more capable of challenging for wins, but Hamilton will also get the chance to drive a different generation of cars that may be better suited to his talents.

Since the last major regulations overhaul in 2022, Hamilton has claimed just two race victories in four seasons, a measly return for a man who has a record 105 wins across his career.

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