Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has denied the team took “too long” to impose a swap between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc during the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
The Maranello-based squad endured a sobering weekend in the United States as a team orders-induced quibble compounded the team’s uninspiring competitiveness.
Hamilton was trailing behind Leclerc in eighth place once both had made their pit stops, but on the grippier Medium compound compared to his team-mate on Hards.
Having passed Carlos Sainz’s Williams along with Leclerc on Lap 34, Hamilton appeared to grow irritated over the subsequent laps tucked up behind the sister Ferrari.
The Briton was granted his wish to be released on Lap 38, though he conceded the time spent in Leclerc’s turbulent wake dispelled the initial advantage he harboured.
But while Hamilton asserted Ferrari must be more decisive, Vasseur revealed that the team was assessing whether he was outright quicker than Leclerc at that stage.
“Okay, let’s go directly to the point. It didn’t take so long. It was one lap and a half or something like this,” Vasseur told media including Motorsport Week.
“And when we have two cars, not with the same strategy, the first thing for me to understand if it’s faster when you are behind due to the DRS or not.
“It took us one lap. It means that it’s one minute 30 to understand, and then we asked them to swap.
“But honestly, perhaps that we can argue at the end that we would have been better to do it directly.
“But we didn’t know if it was the DRS effect or not. And I think we took the tough decision because it’s never easy to ask to Charles or to Lewis to swap.
“But we did it and they did it on track. I didn’t see a lot of [other] teams doing it.”
Hamilton was unable to break Leclerc’s advances as the laps counted down, prompting him to adhere to an instruction to cede the position again with five laps to run.
Asked to explain the rationale behind the second call, Vasseur added: “Because it’s the policy of the team that if you ask them to swap.
“If you don’t ask them to swap, they don’t overtake.
“If you ask them to swap, it’s because we think that the second car is faster than the first one at this stage of the race.
“He tried to catch up the guy who was in front. And if we don’t do it, we swap back to respect the initial position.
“And at this stage of the race, it was clear that we won’t be able to fight [Andrea Kimi] Antonelli with Lewis. So we asked them to swap back.”
Why Ferrari didn’t discuss alternate strategies
Vasseur divulged that Ferrari’s usual pre-race discussion didn’t extend to covering the potential complications that adopting alternative strategies triggered in the end.
“We have a general policy and we follow the policy,” he stated. “The question is not to swap and to swap back if you don’t get the guy who is in front of you.
“The issue at this stage of the race is to understand if the car behind is faster than the car who is in front. Or if it’s just the DRS effect.”
Vasseur’s ire with F1 team radio broadcast
As was the case in China earlier this season, Vasseur highlighted how the wait behind radio messages being broadcast distorted how matters unfolded in real time.
“First, you have to understand that it’s FOM who is managing the delay,” he commented.
“It means that sometimes we are asking them something and you have it live half a lap later or one lap later. I already had the case in the past.
“And then we have tonnes of information that we are discussing with them about the set-up of the car and so.
“And it’s not always easy to ask them to do it before Turn 11 or Turn 17. But honestly I think that we did what we have to do.
“You can always argue that it would have been better to do it half a lap before or half a lap later. But honestly we did a good job.”
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton denies being ‘angry’ or ‘disrespectful’ with Ferrari radio in Miami
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Fred that’s a bunch of nonsense. Adami CANNOT manage a race. Let’s go back to Australia, Race 1:
Adami: “You can use K1 when you are close.”
Hamilton: “Leave me to it, please.”
Adami: “K1 available.”
Hamilton: “Yes, I know. Leave me to it, please. Please leave it! Just leave me to it with the DRS. It’s not an issue.”
Adami: “Try to hold the K1. Just for practice. I know it’s difficult.”
Hamilton: “I’m not close enough! I’m not close enough. When I’m close, I’ll do it.”
As if a 7 time champion doesn’t know how to use a f_kking button!
And no, Fred, it wasn’t 1 lap, it was THREE LAPS. Why don’t you work on managing the race, building a better car and figuring out how the hell tires work and stop pinning Ferrari’s organizational chaos on your drivers!
Luca Di Montezemolo is absolutely right.
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