How Lewis Hamilton changed Ferrari's entire F1 'philosophy'

Lewis Hamilton and Fred Vasseur embrace — Photo: © IMAGO

Ferrari

How Lewis Hamilton changed Ferrari's entire 'philosophy' to bring success

Vasseur and Hamilton could be on the brink of major success at Ferrari

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Tuesday 23 June 2026 20:45

The days of Lewis Hamilton bemoaning his F1 machinery may not be entirely over, but the seven-time champion has changed the tune at Ferrari after winning his first grand prix in red.

Hamilton finally took the chequered flag of a full-length race for the Scuderia at the Barcelona Grand Prix last time out, and as a result, the Brit now sits just 41 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

The 41-year-old's legions of fans are now dreaming of potential title success, and whilst that illusive eighth title might seem far away at present, it has become clear that the changes implemented at Ferrari are finally paying off on track.

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It is Hamilton who has been credited with turning the team around after admitting his arrival caused somewhat of a culture shock, but F1 journalist and insider of the sport Mark Hughes has credited team principal Fred Vasseur for convincing the squad to follow the lead of their new driver.

Vasseur 'galvanised' Ferrari into building Hamilton's dream team

On an episode of The Race podcast, Hughes set about trying to clear up the narrative surrounding Hamilton's success at Ferrari in his second season, noting that if he had a team principal who wasn't as open to change, he wouldn't have been able to reshape the team or the car to fit his needs.

Hughes said: “I think rather than seeing it as it’s sometimes portrayed, as Lewis Hamilton coming in with this superior knowledge from superior teams and saying: ‘What a mess, right, this needs sorting, this needs sorting and this needs sorting,’ I think it’s more that he’s come in, he’s tried the car, and he’s said: ‘I cannot drive this. This is hopeless. I can’t drive it in this way. You’ve developed a car completely different from anything that I need to drive.’

“The impact of that throughout the whole company, across all the different departments and engineering groups, will be: if we’re going to give him a car that behaves the way he says he needs, that is a completely different philosophy.

“Everything, the whole car, the aerodynamics of the car, has been developed around our previous philosophy. We’ve got to buy in. If we’re going to take notice of Lewis, we’ve got to buy in, and it’s a complete, radical rethink on everything."

Pointing to the Frenchman at the helm of the Maranello-based outfit, Hughes then continued: “And that’s what Fred Vasseur has essentially done. He has pushed against the grain in quite a few cases.

“You can imagine there would be resistance, because you’ve got engineers there who are saying: ‘Why are we taking notice of the slower driver? The faster driver says this is good.’

“So there would be a natural reluctance there. It would be Fred’s job to galvanise everybody around what it is he’s trying to do, to give Lewis what he’s asking for.”

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F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Fred Vasseur