Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari F1 boss calls out 'politics' behind FIA decision

Hamilton and Vasseur in Ferrari kit looking concerned with red and white Canadian GP background — Photo: © IMAGO

Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari F1 boss calls out 'politics' behind FIA decision

Lewis Hamilton's F1 boss is Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur

By Sam Cook.

Saturday 23 May 2026 21:00

The F1 boss of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton has hit out at the FIA, claiming there were 'politics' at play in the decision to make a recent 'unfair' rule change.

Ferrari started the F1 2026 season off in fine form, with Hamilton and his team-mate Charles Leclerc helping the team claim podiums in each of the first three grands prix of the year.

The Scuderia were looking like the outright second-fastest team on the grid behind Mercedes, but at the Miami Grand Prix last time out, both Red Bull and McLaren looked to have made significant gains on the Maranello outfit.

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Part of Ferrari's success in the early part of the season came from their race starts, with the outfit having built a power unit which could get off the line well while other power unit manufacturers struggled to get their turbos spooled up properly, with drivers falling backwards at the starts of races.

The FIA introduced a new pre-start procedure which includes a blue light which gives drivers time to spool up their turbo before the start sequence, extending the entire start procedure.

But Hamilton's boss, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur, is not happy with these measures, claiming the Italian squad raised the issue of starts this time last year, but were told to make their power unit so that starts were not a problem, which they did so successfully.

Vasseur slams 'unfair' rule changes

“Imagine without the blue light, some cars would be still on the grid in China,” Vasseur told The Race.

“You can put on the table the safety grounds, and it's the right of the FIA and I have just to accept. But at the end, I think it's also a bit unfair on us.

“I went to the FIA one year ago, and we spoke about this. We spoke about this in SAC (Sporting Advisory Committee), we spoke about this in the PUAC (Power Unit Advisory Committee).

“And I really appreciated the answer from the FIA [that] you have to design the car for the regulations, not the regulations for your car. I think this is a very good approach.

“So then to have half of the grid, 40 per cent of the grid complaining, that it's mega dangerous and so on. Politically [it] was well played but not very fair.”

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari FIA Fred Vasseur