Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has expressed that the team must help Lewis Hamilton sustain an uninterrupted weekend to end his ongoing podium drought in Formula 1.
The recent momentum that Hamilton had been building was halted in Belgium as an incident-ridden round marked the latest setback in his debut campaign at Ferrari.
Hamilton apologised to the team as a spin under braking into the Bus Stop chicane and then a track limits violation at Raidillon consigned him to successive Q1 exits.
But although he was unable to make up much ground during the 15-lap Sprint Race, Hamilton produced a valiant comeback drive in the Grand Prix to salvage seventh.
Ferrari’s pre-race switch to a more loaded rear wing paid dividends in the minimal laps raced in wet weather conditions as he recorded several bold overtaking moves.
However, Hamilton’s race came alive when he made an optimal switch to slicks on Lap 11 that gained him seven places to his eventual position at the chequered flag.
Vasseur revealed that the call to discard the Intermediates at that precise moment was a combined decision that enabled Hamilton to maintain his active scoring run.
“For sure, when you are in this situation you have to gamble a little bit,” Vasseur told media including Motorsport Week.
“The situation is that we were degrading a lot the Inter, and we were far away from the crossover.
“The Inter was a disaster, they were completely gone. You put a new set of Inter, you are also six, seven seconds faster.
“But I think it was the right call at the right moment, a bit aggressive.
“We were quite close to doing it with Charles [Leclerc], but Charles would have been in traffic.
“It meant that we did it with Lewis, and I think it was the right call at the right lap. Don’t try to split the team and the drivers; it’s always a collective decision.”
Ferrari striving to minimise compromised weekends
But despite mounting an admirable reaction to his tribulations, Hamilton expressed disappointment with his weekend as team-mate Leclerc clinched another podium.
Vasseur reiterated that the onus is on the entire team – including the seven-time champion – to avoid blunders that lead to either driver’s weekend being compromised.
“The mood is good,” Vasseur insisted. “For sure it’s not the result that we were expecting with Lewis, Sprint quali and the quali yesterday.
“But I think it’s part of the life of a racing team that we reacted collectively very well today.
“Lewis did a great job, he was quite aggressive at the beginning in the extreme conditions.
“He was able to fight with [Alex] Albon until the end with the downforce of… not Budapest. I think it was a good recovery for him, also to be efficient like this.
“Now, for sure, we have to do a better job. From the beginning, if you want to score podiums or wins, you can’t let one session away.
“We will have to do a step next week, but we are all pushing in the same direction.”
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