Fred Vasseur Gives Bold “Destroyed” Lewis Hamilton & Charles Leclerc Verdict

Ferrari suffered from massive challenges in terms of performance in the 2025 season. The team was unable to deliver a race-winning challenger, and both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc fell short of their rivals.

Neither driver could achieve a race win, with Hamilton failing to even show up at the podium. Now, Fred Vasseur revealed how he would have been heartbroken if he heard positive feedback from the drivers about the team’s condition in the previous season.

Fred Vasseur remained highly realistic throughout the 2025 season. He even asked Lewis Hamilton to put his head in the game and not comment so quickly about the car’s performance.

Moreover, Charles Leclerc and Hamilton both provided honest feedback to the team and did not sugarcoat their condition. Vasseur appreciated this honesty from both drivers and believes that it was crucial to work towards improving their condition in 2026.

Speaking bluntly on Ferrari’s performance in the 2025 season, Fred Vasseur highlighted that he would have been ‘destroyed’ if he received positive feedback from Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

Vasseur was so sure that the Italian squad was doing a bad job in terms of performance. The Frenchman pointed out that everyone in the team wanted to push for change and push the car to the maximum limit to maximize performance.

However, because of Ferrari’s poor performance, neither Lewis Hamilton nor Charles Leclerc could achieve a picture-perfect finish to their 2025 season. Fred Vasseur insisted that pushing for improvement was embedded in the DNA of both drivers, and he wasn’t surprised when they requested changes to the car. Ultimately, the entire development relied on Leclerc and Hamilton speaking candidly about the problems in the challenger and areas of improvement.

I would be destroyed if I had the drivers telling me that we are doing a good job, Their DNA, and my DNA, is to try and to push the team to do a better job, and between them, they have to come to us, Charles and Lewis, not Lewis or Charles, both of them, they have to come to us and push the team to the limit everywhere, in every single area. This is their DNA and I’m not shocked at all when they are coming to me and saying: ‘Fred, we have to improve on this, this, this and this,’ because that is what we’re asking them to do. 

Fred Vasseur said, as reported by RacingNews365.

Fred Vasseur accepts Ferrari needs to ‘improve everywhere’

Ferrari hasn’t tasted a championship victory since the 2008 season and has fallen short on every occasion. The team must put forth massive changes if it wants to return to its glory days in Formula 1. To address the issue, Fred Vasseur makes a bold acceptance of the constructor’s current state and what they have to do in order to return to their winning ways.

Fred Vasseur explained that Ferrari needed to improve everywhere. The Frenchman recalled the 2024 season and how they fought with McLaren for the constructor’s title up until the very last race of the season. Maranello lost the title by a mere 14-point deficit to Woking. Despite almost winning a title, Charles Leclerc still talked about the places the team could improve performance, thus proving that the drivers always pushed for improvement.

For sure we can improve everywhere, but [in 2024], we were fighting until the last corner and the reaction was exactly the same with Charles: ‘we need to improve on every single area, ono the simulator, on the set-up.’ 

Fred Vasseur noted.

The new regulations in the 2026 season will certainly shake things up amongst the teams. None of the teams is seemingly the clear favorite for now. Ferrari risks losing Lewis Hamilton if they do not improve their condition drastically, as the seven-time champion might simply give up on the project.

Read More: Lewis Hamilton Sends Bold Ferrari Message After Nightmare Debut

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