Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur outlined why the team decided to call an end to Lewis Hamilton’s dismal Brazil GP.

Hamilton was running in P18 when Ferrari called him into the garage on lap 38.

Vasseur said: “When you are last and you are missing 35 points or 40 points on the car, I'm not sure that it makes sense to damage the engine, so we save the penalty and we stop the car.”

Having lost places at the start after touching wheels with Carlos Sainz at the first corner, Hamilton suffered damage to his SF-25 when he collided with Franco Colapinto later on in lap one.

The Briton misjudged the distance ahead when he ducked under the slipstream of Colapinto’s Alpine, causing him to lose his front wing, which lodged itself under his Ferrari and caused damage to his bodywork.

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Positives hard to find

With Charles Leclerc also retiring from the race, following a dramatic turn one incident at the safety car restart, Ferrari suffered a dismal double DNF in Brazil.

Vasseur said: “It is difficult to take positives when you have double DNF.

Oscar Piastri, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc crash at the restart of the Brazil GP. Photo: F1TV feed.

“But I would say that if I have to take a positive part of the weekend is the pace in quali, the recovery, that even the start, the restart.

“We are fighting looking at the front, not looking at the guy who is behind us trying to attack and the positive attitude. And this is good. But it's when you are at this point of the championship, you are more focused on points than on potential.”

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