Ferrari continues to back Hamilton and take blame for 'difficult' pace deficit

21:35, 11 May
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Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has backed the pace of Lewis Hamilton and instead suggested that the Italian team must search for improvements for 2025.
It hasn't been the easiest season for the Scuderia. After a positive ending to 2024, the first six races of 2025 have shown that they've taken a backstep. Ferrari has scored 94 points in the first six rounds, over 150 points behind leaders McLaren.
The media asked the Frenchman in Miami about Lewis Hamilton's performance in the last few F1 races. Hamilton was closer to teammate Leclerc in Miami than he was in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The 105-time Grand Prix winner finished in fifth and seventh place in those races respectively.

Hamilton enjoys sprint success so far in 2025

Vasseur is certain that Hamilton's pace is nothing to worry about. The Brit won the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race and finished third in a wet and wild Miami sprint. These shorter races have given Hamilton his best results of the season so far.
"If you have a look at Bahrain for example, he was with the pace of Charles at the beginning of the weekend, and then he had a track limit in the first lap of Q3, and then he was a bit on the back foot and he didn't have a good qualifying, and he started from the back," Vasseur began to GPblog and other media present.
Vasseur has led the Ferrari team since 2023
Vasseur has led the Ferrari team since 2023
He pointed this out to mention that one slight mistake can ruin a whole race weekend now that the F1 grid is so close.

'Much more difficult' for Ferrari to make an impact

"I think it's really narrow, that was true for Norris in Bahrain, he made a mistake Turn 1, and he lost five or four tenths in the first sector, that it's very difficult to get in and out with the tyres. McLaren is doing a fantastic job on this all over the weekend, but as soon as we're out, it's much more difficult."