On the morning of last weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was summoned to an abrupt meeting with Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur.
It is no secret that Hamilton has been unhappy with his start at Ferrari. His struggles continued at the Miami Grand Prix.
The Briton finished in eighth and was more than a minute off the pace of race winner Oscar Piastri.
One of Hamilton’s defining moments during the race was his strained team radio exchange with his race engineer, Riccardo Adami.
According to F1 reporter Frederic Ferret, there is “not a problem” between Hamilton and the team boss Fred Vasseur.
Post-race meeting
As Hamilton and Vasseur were spotted in a meeting in Ferrari’s hospitality unit post-race, the seven-time World Champion revealed he had told the team principal to “calm down” and “don’t be so sensitive”.
On the F1 Nation Podcast, Ferret disclosed that the meeting was one of many between Hamilton and Vasseur on Sunday in Miami, with the driver initiating a last-minute meeting for a discussion about tyres.
Ferret said: “Lewis went to speak with Fred while we were having a coffee and said: ‘I want to speak with you about the tyres.’”
He reiterated that there is no issue between the two, elaborating on how Hamilton would openly air his grievances to his former race engineer, Peter Bonnington, during his long stint at Mercedes.
Ferret continued and said: “It was 9 am on the morning of the race. He wasn’t complaining. He was trying to help.
“There is not at all a problem. We heard Lewis speak tough on Bono when they had problems. It’s easy for journalists to write: ‘Ferrari, big problems.’
“It’s more complicated than that.”
Ferrari’s Environment
Ferret insisted that the environment and aura around Ferrari are healthy, despite being lagging behind McLaren after six races by 152 points.
When Ferret was asked about the Ferrari’s internal health, he said: “I am not bull******** you. They are very calm, and they want to improve.
“Charles [Leclerc] is very upset when he says he can’t be eighth on the grid because he’s a Ferrari driver and he wants to win.
“The whole mess that we see is because of the radio chat which was tough.
“At Ferrari, it has always been like that. Remember, in China, Sebastian Vettel was exactly the same, with the same result. [Hamilton and Leclerc] are two big drivers competing at a high level, and they want to be in front of the other. There is no way to avoid that.”
Ferret then added: “Lewis said there are no problems, it was just adrenaline.”
