Vasseur dismisses Ferrari crisis talk after clearing the air with Leclerc and Hamilton

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has pushed back against claims of an internal crisis at the Scuderia, insisting that conversations with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton after the Italian Grand Prix resolved the tensions that flared at Monza.

The two drivers came close to making contact during the race, with Hamilton driving aggressively and Leclerc later admitting his own mistake. What followed, however, was a rapid escalation in the media — questions over driver management, leadership stability, and the broader health of the team.

“We had some good meetings with Lewis and Charles,” Vasseur said. “They cleared things up together and I reminded them of some fundamental principles of the way I manage the team. And I will continue to stick to them.”

Vasseur’s message to his drivers centred on collective responsibility. He drew on a specific example to make his point, recalling the strategy-driven victory in Melbourne two years ago when he sent strategist Ravin Jain onto the podium to share the recognition — and contrasting that with moments when things went wrong and he stepped in front of the cameras himself.

“My job is to protect the hundreds of people in the team and to take responsibility,” he said. “That is what I have asked the drivers to do as well: if we want to achieve results, we need to protect the team and each of us needs to take responsibility.”

The Ferrari boss was careful to clarify that he is not asking Leclerc or Hamilton to soften their public comments or avoid criticism. His concern is the gap between how a driver feels in the moment and how those words land once broadcast to a global audience.

“I’m not asking them not to be open or not to be tough,” Vasseur explained. “But very often they are much calmer with us than they are when they go and speak to the press. Lewis told me: ‘Fred, 80% of my message was positive and they took the 20% that was negative.’ But we all know how it works. If you say the team is doing a good job and then add a ‘but’, that is the part that will become the headline. It’s part of the game.”

For Vasseur, the episode at Monza was a manageable on-track incident that was amplified beyond its actual significance. His priority now is ensuring that neither driver inadvertently fuels a narrative that undermines the work being done across the wider team.