Fred Vasseur kept changing his story over Ferrari issue at the Miami Grand Prix that frustrated Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur will know that the next race in the 2025 Formula 1 calendar is the most important of the year so far.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is the first race on Italian soil for Ferrari this season, and potentially the last time Imola will be a permanent circuit on the calendar.

Unfortunately, Ferrari are not entering the upcoming race weekend in the position they would like to after the first quarter of the season.

Fred Vasseur’s team are already 152 points behind constructors’ championship leaders McLaren and showing no signs of closing the gap.

Lewis Hamilton has struggled ever since making the switch from Mercedes and while both he and Charles Leclerc has shown glimpses of promise, the 2025 season is quickly looking like a write-off.

The Miami Grand Prix ended up being the perfect microcosm of what’s going wrong at Ferrari.

Hamilton impressed with his quick thinking in the car to earn a podium in the Sprint Race, before missing out on Q3 just a few hours later.

However, the lack of clarity over the team radio hampered Ferrari and Vasseur couldn’t stick to his story after the race about where the delay arose from.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur from net worth to height

Fred Vasseur changed his story over Ferrari radio dilemma after the Miami Grand Prix

It was put to journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm on The Race F1 Podcast that both Ferrari drivers were unhappy with how their race was handed by the team and he explained, “I don’t think Ferrari managed either part of that necessarily as well as it could have.

“Fred Vasseur took issue with me asking why it took so long to swap Hamilton and Leclerc the first time, he didn’t think it took that long.

“He claimed it only took them about a lap and a half and that they could have maybe done it a half lap faster but they wanted to establish whether or not the only reason Hamilton was looking that good relative to Leclerc was because of the DRS, being in the tow and having the benefit of the DRS.

“I noted that in the Ferrari press release, the reason was given as wanted to make sure that Leclerc would be safe from Sainz when they made the swap.

“Now, maybe it was both factors, but it’s just interesting that in one setting, Fred said one thing and then in the press release it’s sort of stressed as another point.

“I think the difference of opinion over how long it took comes down to when you believe the clock is started for when they could make the decision, and I would say it started sooner than when Fred is saying that it began.”

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Lewis Hamilton surprisingly upbeat after the Miami Grand Prix despite P8 finish

Hamilton and Leclerc were on different strategies during the second half of the race and both were waiting for instructions on what to do in their battle for P7.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was just up the road, and Hamilton on the softer compound was desperate to try and catch him.

However, the team dithered over a decision and Martin Brundle was far from impressed with Ferrari’s response to the problem.

Hamilton was eventually allowed to pass but couldn’t make any inroads on the Mercedes driver, and just as Leclerc was urging the Brit to press on after even more delays, he was allowed to take his position back.

Vasseur immediately spoke to Hamilton after the race, presumably to explain what had gone wrong on the pit wall during the race.

Hamilton was surprisingly upbeat during his media duties, but it’s not an attitude that is likely to last if Ferrari don’t sharpen up their strategy calls.