Fred Vasseur has taken aim at Mattia Binotto’s Sauber after the former Ferrari team principal questioned his decision to sign Lewis Hamilton for F1 2025.

Hamilton will join Ferrari next season, the Briton replacing Carlos Sainz as Charles Leclerc’s team-mate having signed a multi-year contract.

Fred Vasseur hit back at Binotto’s Hamilton claims

The announcement has been one of the big topics all season long with pundits questioning whether bringing a 39-year-old driver onboard is the right decision for Ferrari.

Binotto, the team’s former boss, says it’s what he would’ve done.

“I wouldn’t have signed Hamilton,” the former Ferrari team principal told Corriere della Sera. “However, he [Hamilton] did very well to accept; I agree with his decision to join Ferrari.”

Explaining why he wouldn’t have chosen Hamilton, the Italian stated: “Ferrari had already bet on another driver like Leclerc. If Charles is the talent, then it’s right for him to be the one guided towards winning the title.”

Vasseur though wasn’t impressed with Binotto weighing in on his decisions.

“And I’m not sure that Hamilton would have gone to Sauber,” he said laughing to La Stampa. “I am happy that so many people have time to comment on our choices, I am focused on our work.

“After all,” added the former Sauber team boss, “when I was at Sauber I didn’t talk about Ferrari.”

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Hamilton heads to Ferrari on the back of a mixed final season with Mercedes.

Although the Briton won Grands Prix for the first time since his 2021 title fight, he lost both the qualifying and grand prix head-to-head stats against his team-mate George Russell.

Hamilton finished the season seventh in the Drivers’ Championship on 223 points, 22 behind Russell. It was the first time in 18 seasons in Formula 1 that he was outside of the top six.

“He is in a complicated situation at the end of a long partnership, there is also some frustration,” Vasseur defended. “He knew it would not be an easy season.”

Vasseur’s response to Binotto comes as the team finished bottom of the Constructors’ Championship with only four points this season, all coming from one top result for Zhou Guanyu.

It had out-going driver Valtteri Bottas declaring to Ilta Sanomat newspaper that Sauber had lost their way after Vasseur left to join Ferrari.

“If I could go back three years, I would have gone somewhere else. Unfortunately, that’s how it is,” he said. “This was a big mistake, but it’s hard to predict these things in advance.

“That first year with Vasseur was a good thing. The team spirit was good and the results were quite good.

“The last two seasons have been a bit of a downhill slide all the time. Of course, that affects my image as a driver. If you can’t show results, people kind of forget your name.

“This season has undoubtedly been quite scary. When we set goals with Vasseur in 2022 and how to achieve them, we had a clear plan.

“But after he left, all the goals and plans went to the scrap heap. Since then, it has been significantly more challenging.”

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