Could Hamilton Quit Ferrari? Vasseur Shuts Down Rumours
Aug.4 - Fred Vasseur insists Lewis Hamilton will not walk away from Ferrari or F1 despite spiralling speculation after Hungary.
After qualifying, Hamilton said he was "useless" and Ferrari should get "another driver." Asked if it was a joke, he replied after the race on Sunday: "No, no, I was completely serious."
To Sky Italia after Sunday's race, he added: "I had no expectations for the season, but so far it's been much worse than any other season I've had. Did I mean what I said? It's a feeling.
"There's a lot going on in the background that's not great. I'm just looking forward to not working for a while."
Team boss Vasseur responded: "No, no, he will definitely continue driving for us.
"We spoke yesterday afternoon, yesterday evening, and this morning. I understand Lewis's reaction. Lewis is very demanding of the team and me. But most of all of himself. He is a seven-time world champion because he has this attitude of pushing everyone, especially himself.
"He'll come back, he'll be fighting again."
DAZN commentator Antonio Lobato said: "He's hit rock bottom. He's the worst Lewis Hamilton we've ever seen in terms of motivation; he's said some very harsh things about himself.
"He obviously has to dig himself out of this hole. I don't know if he can do it alone; he might need help."
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher thinks Hamilton might be serious about retiring. But F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said: "I'm pretty sure he will show the reason why he is here.
"He wants to achieve his eighth title, and he will triumph again."
Bernie Ecclestone, in Hungary, joked: "Lewis is more likely to win an eighth title than that," referring to rumours he and Christian Horner could buy into Alpine."
Toto Wolff, Hamilton's former long-time boss at Mercedes, added: "Lewis never hides his feelings. He doubts himself, that has happened before. But he's the greatest driver of all time. He'll always be the greatest driver of all time, and no one can take that away from him.
"He has unfinished business in Formula 1. Mercedes have failed to cope with these regulations and Lewis has never been happy with ground effect cars and they are not for him in that respect.
"Next year, there will be completely new cars, completely different to drive, new power units that will need an intelligent way of managing energy."
Meanwhile, Leclerc, pole-sitter in Hungary, was furious mid-race and later apologised. He and Vasseur hinted at chassis issues as the cause of his slump to P4. George Russell suspects Ferrari raised tyre pressures and engine mode to avoid floor damage.
"Well, he won't tell you that they were that close to being illegal," said Mercedes' Russell. "That's the only thing we can piece together based on the laptimes and the engine mode they were using."
18 F1 Fan comments on “Could Hamilton Quit Ferrari? Vasseur Shuts Down Rumours”
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Im sure Mr Elkann is ecstatic at how the driver hes paid for is performing for the team, the Italian press must be having a field day
You don’t get it do you. The Italians and Latinos around the world love drama and emotion. How much publicity has Lewis generated. It wouldn’t matter commercially if Lewis never won another race, he’s the GOAT as Toto pointed out.
No one has even mentioned Max dropping to a dismal eighth, all the pictures everywhere have red overalls in them and even his old boss is bigging him up.Meanwhile Red Bull, nothing. Who’s getting the best value?
Torgers ,loving it, the man with the contract that showed hes lost faith in the Goat, the Merc and the Ferrari are ok cars, Torger knew this, hence the poor contract for LoobyLou, , sure plenty of red overalls , but all for the wrong reasons...., and commercially Ferrari were doing just fine without Laura wet your pants Hamilton, Torgers loving it hes offloaded an aging driver who cant cut anymore, a smart move from him, finally Latinos.... wtf that about, anyway heres looking forward to a better 2nd half of the season for her , she always come on strong in the 2nd half.... or Did
This has turned out exactly how I said it would at the start of the season.
Hamilton may be statistically the best with race wins and poles but he is not the GOAT.
He had a superior car at Mercedes for all those years that helped him to rack up those wins and poles, but he is not mentally strong.
He should retire now , he will not win an 8th WDC.
I concur, when marketing overtakes talent you get Lady Hamilton
If HE does what will be your point in living ShoddyFlyPost?
He had a superior car, as did Max but Lewis also had team mates capable of beating him. Big, big difference don’t you think?
Oh and Lewis didn’t have a team manager and performance manager blatantly and openly cheating for him. Probably the real reason for all the departures from Red Bull.
Audis team manager should fit in well given VAG’s track record for cheating.
Your right, she didn't , she just did her lying and cheating directly to the Fia on camera, and then apologized for her lies, ahhhh history dont you just love it
More than Horner Or JW did.
And his lie didn’t gift him a world championship .
Not really as they werent allowed to beat her
Rubbish, Lewis has been beaten many times by his teammates, several of them world champions.
Several world champions?, oh you mean Jenson and Fernando, as for the others, not really WDC quality are they, but pray continue with this narrative in more detail, i look forward to discussing it with you
More than Horner Or JW did.
Are we discussing Dame Judy or Max , i thought Dame Judy, because i dont think Max has lied to the Fia on camera has he, as for Rb staff, thats there job to protect and further a teams interests, you cant be that naive
‘That’s their job’ By cheating? You seem to be condoning their actions in 2021.
‘ not really Wdc quality are they’?? Compared to Max’s team mates they certainly were.
Let’s not forget four times wdc Max. 2021 won solely because his team cheated. 2022/2023 not reall wdc quality competition.2024 Max’s only decent wdc. So maybe wonder boy isn’t so wonderful after all.
you say "the team cheated" not me, they are your choice of words, you dont think Bottas was a number 2 driver really?, the difference is Rb never hid the fact, with Torger it was never openly said, apart from the wing man comment ,and from VB actually saying it himself, so the naive public believed they were equals.!., history remembers only the winners usually but soon , itll remember another failed champion at Ferrari, infact its worse than when SV and FA were there,Using the word Cheat over and over doesnt alter the facts that Lucille from a sporting point of view has been a failure, and i took a quick look at the share price before she joined and as of today, didnt look a huge difference to me, so the hype rise is all gone, because of how shes performing, so no, i wont be buying any Ferrari shares tomorrow, but cheer up I could be completely wrong
Lewis was actually beaten by his teammate Nico. Max’s teammates were never even close.