Vasseur's Bold Podium Pursuit vs Hamilton's Strategic Caution
Sep.18 - Fred Vasseur insists Ferrari can still fight for podiums before the end of 2025 - but Lewis Hamilton is not convinced.
The seven-time world champion has endured a tough first season in red so far, with both his own form and Ferrari's performance falling short of expectations.
Flavio Briatore, now running Alpine, urged patience when speaking to Italy's Automoto. "Luca di Montezemolo was and is a great manager with excellent leadership, but even he had to wait five years to win the title.
"Fred Vasseur will also solve all the team's problems at some point," the 75-year-old said.
According to Briatore, Ferrari's breakthrough may come as soon as 2026. "Formula 1 is very complex these days, with seven cars within two tenths of each other. This year, only McLaren is truly competitive, but next year everything will be different.
"Alpine will be fighting for podium finishes again. And with the new cars, Hamilton will also be competing for victories again. He's always been fantastic."
Ferrari team boss Vasseur, however, believes results are still possible for Hamilton this year. "Yeah, because he was able to fight with Russell in Zandvoort, and coming back from P10 to the gearbox of Russell (at Monza). Russell was on the podium a couple of times this year.
"Yes, we can expect to be on the podium," the Frenchman told reporters.
Hamilton, 40, takes a more pessimistic view. When asked if a podium is realistic, he replied: "I don't think so.
"Charles (Leclerc) was giving it everything (at Monza). We've got Max (Verstappen), who is back up there now. We don't have the pace of Red Bull - they were rapid - and we don't have the pace of McLaren.
"So, currently I think we are fourth, fifth," he said.
Even Verstappen, however, expressed sympathy for his former title rival. "I can't judge how he worked at Mercedes or how he feels in the team," said the Dutchman. "But he came to a team that already has a very strong driver in Charles.
"It's never easy to immediately outperform a teammate who knows the team, the processes, and the language perfectly. These cars can be very complicated to understand why you're fast or not."
