Ted Kravitz surprised by what Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur told him about Lewis Hamilton plans

Ferrari aren’t letting their focus drift to Lewis Hamilton’s impending arrival. They know they have an opportunity to snatch the constructors’ title this year.

The Scuderia arrived at this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix 36 points behind McLaren. That margin will almost certainly take more than one race to overhaul, but there are still 144 points up for grabs.

Ferrari have increased the pressure after a strong qualifying display in Sin City. Carlos Sainz will start second alongside George Russell, while Charles Leclerc is fourth.

Meanwhile, McLaren are only sixth and eighth respectively with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. With Red Bull third in the standings, Mercedes are already locked into fourth place.

Hamilton will be growing increasingly desperate for the season to end. It’s no exaggeration to say the seven-time world champion needs to relaunch his career at Ferrari.

He produced his latest poor qualifying performance in the Friday night session. After failing to deliver a clean lap in Q3, he slotted into 10th place.

Ted Kravitz says Lewis Hamilton may have a different race engineer to Carlos Sainz in 2025

Sky Sports F1 presenter Ted Kravitz asked Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur whether Ricciardo Adami would be Hamilton’s race engineer next year. Adami is the logical candidate after working with Sainz.

Kravitz therefore expected Vasseur to confirm that he’d carry out the role. But the Frenchman surprisingly indicated that a decision had yet to be made.

Reports earlier this year claimed Hamilton had called Sebastian Vettel to ask about Adami. He previously supported the four-time world champion, who was Sainz’s predecessor.

“Is Riccardo Adami, Carlos Sainz’s engineer at the moment, going to be Lewis Hamilton’s engineer at Ferrari next year?” Kravitz said on his Notebook. “I asked Fred Vasseur, I expected him to say ‘yes he is’. But Fred Vasseur didn’t say that. Fred Vasseur said, ‘I don’t know, we’re going to have to discuss it over the winter’.

“Ooh. So is there going to be some engineering switch in the teams around the place? We will have to see.”

Can Ferrari cure the one thing that’s ‘really hurting’ Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes?

Peter Bonnington has been Hamilton’s right-hand man since he joined Mercedes back in 2013. There was initially talk that Bonnington may follow him to Maranello.

However, Mercedes have since extended his contract to end any doubt. He’ll aid Kimi Antonelli’s development next year as the 18-year-old graduates from the driver academy.

Bonnington apologised to Hamilton over the radio after qualifying on Saturday. They seem at a loss to work out why he’s repeatedly losing out over one lap.

Qualifying is ‘really hurting’ Hamilton, Sky Sports interviewer Rachel Brookes says. Whether it’s Adami or another engineer, Ferrari’s key task is to reignite the 104-time pole-sitter.