Fred Vasseur refuses to blame Lewis Hamilton despite the many penalties received in recent weeks in Formula 1.
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Lewis Hamilton is going through an unusual period in his career.
In the last three Grands Prix, the Ferrari driver received a five-second penalty in each race, but for very different reasons. At Silverstone, he was penalized for a false start. In Belgium, he was deemed responsible for a collision with George Russell on the first lap. Finally, in Hungary, a speed excess of only 0.1 km/h in the pit lane cost him another penalty.
In addition, there was another penalty for speeding in the pits in Monaco as well as a three-place grid drop in Hungary for impeding Oscar Piastri in qualifying.
Despite this unusual accumulation, Fred Vasseur refuses to see it as a worrying trend.
“Each penalty is different”
The Ferrari team principal believes it is unfair to group all these penalties under the same analysis.
“It is difficult to put all these penalties in the same basket.”
Regarding the collision with George Russell at Spa, Vasseur does not hide his disagreement with the stewards’ decision.
“For me, it was just a racing incident. If he had to relive that situation, I would ask him to do exactly the same thing, because he couldn’t go over the curb.”
A position that aligns with George Russell himself, who said after the race that no penalty was necessary.
A series of small mistakes in Hungary
On the other hand, Vasseur acknowledges that the Hungarian Grand Prix was marked by a series of unfavorable details.
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According to him, it all started with a wheel lock-up during the pit stop, before Hamilton tried to gain every hundredth of a second when leaving.
“In Hungary, it was probably a succession of small mistakes. He locked a wheel during the stop, we lost a few tenths, then he wanted to optimize his pit exit as much as possible, but he left slightly too early.”
This desire to optimize everything ultimately led to exceeding the allowed speed.
“When things start to go wrong, it’s easy to chain several small mistakes. This weekend is a good example.”
An excess of only 0.1 km/h
The speeding offense attributed to Hamilton was extremely minor.
The limit set in the pit lane was 80 km/h, with a tolerance allowed up to 80.5 km/h. Hamilton was measured at 80.6 km/h.
“The limit was 80 km/h. The FIA accepts up to 80.5 km/h and we were measured at 80.6 km/h. When a weekend goes wrong, an excess of 0.1 km/h is enough to make all the difference and we got a penalty.”
Second in the championship approaching the summer break, Hamilton now trails Kimi Antonelli by 50 points. Despite this series of penalties, Fred Vasseur remains convinced that it is not a fundamental problem, but a succession of independent incidents.
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