Sky Sports’ David Croft believes Lewis Hamilton has been “undermining” Fred Vasseur’s leadership within the Ferrari Formula 1 team.
After a promising start to F1’s latest era, Ferrari’s on-track prowess has petered out compared with its rivals.
The Maranello-based squad is lagging with its power unit programme, and Hamilton, who once was a championship contender after his maiden Ferrari win at Barcelona, now stands a massive 103 points in deficit to leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Naturally, Vasseur has come under scrutiny, too. After Christian Horner’s cold pitch to Ferrari, many speculated if the iconic Italian marque was angling up to replace the Frenchman with the former Red Bull boss.
But Ferrari came out with a statement, backing Vasseur in no uncertain terms, ahead of the Bahrain GP in Malaysia weekend.
That said, Hamilton, when asked if he believed Vasseur was the right man to lead the team, could only conjure a one-word answer: “Yes.”
Moreover, he went on to describe how great a relationship he shares with Ferrari Chairman John Elkann. This, Croft believes, leaves Hamilton guilty of “undermining” the Frenchman’s outright authority over the Italian marque’s F1 operations.
“Who’s in charge at Ferrari? That’s the question that needs to be asked and answered before any decisions for the future are made,” he said on the Sky Sports F1 Show.
“Is it the team principal? And if so, then Fred is very much under pressure and will take accountability, I’m sure. Or is it John Elkann? Is Fred just carrying out the day-to-day whilst those above make all the big decisions?
“I’m not criticising Lewis here, but when he says ‘I’ve got a great relationship with John Elkann, we’re very close’. Is that actually undermining Fred just a little bit as well?
“If John Elkann takes such a hands-on role, which I believe he does, then how do you expect your team principal to exert authority?”
Why Christian Horner won’t solve Ferrari’s F1 problems
Ferrari’s firm stance against Horner would mean that the Scuderia is not interested in reshuffling its management anytime soon.
Having said that, what the team also cannot ignore is the championship slump it has found itself in since wrapping up the Constructors’ Championship at the end of 2008.
Since then, Ferrari has seen the likes of now F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, Maurizio Arrivabene, Mattia Binotto and Vasseur try to bring back its glory days.
But where these men have failed, can Horner turn out to be the silver bullet? Croft disagrees.
“The reason it worked with Christian at Red Bull was because he was the CEO as well as team principal. He was given autonomy to create and run that team,” he explained.
“Until you do that at Ferrari, you are just going to be repeating the same mistakes on the wheel and going round and round and not optimising everything you’ve got.”
With the short-lived management saga now in the past, Ferrari will be focused on maximising its weekend at the Sepang International Circuit.
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