Despite Lewis Hamilton’s admission Fred Vasseur was pivotal in bringing him over to Ferrari, thus leaving Carlos Sainz scrambling for a race seat, the Williams driver has defended his former team boss.

Although Ferrari ended last season on a high, creating expectations that they could challenge for the double this season, the Scuderia’s F1 2025 form has been anything but encouraging.

Finger pointing after Lewis Hamilton replaced Carlos Sainz at Ferrari

Under team boss Vasseur’s leadership, the team made several notable changes including the decision to drop Sainz in favour of Hamilton and say goodbye to Enrico Cardile to bring in former Mercedes man Loïc Serra as the team’s new technical director.

Ferrari sit fifth and sixth in the Drivers’ standings without a single win on the board while the team is P2 in the teams’ standings with less than half McLaren’s points.

It’s led to a lot of finger-pointing.

While some fans and pundits have questioned Hamilton’s ability to lead Ferrari’s charge, others have pondered whether Ferrari’s technical department, led by Serra, has let the drivers down.

But at the end of it all, the buck stops with team principal Fred Vasseur.

Vasseur took over from former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto ahead of the 2023 season and oversaw the Scuderia taking a clear step forward in terms of organisation and strategic nous, as well as becoming one of the quickest cars on the grid during 2024.

Alas, 2025, for whatever reason, hasn’t panned out as they’d hoped.

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Ferrari may be second in the Constructors’ Championship but they have less than half McLaren’s points, 165 to 362, while Charles Leclerc is the team’s best-placed driver in P5 on 94 points to championship leader Oscar Piastri’s 186.

It’s led to speculation, reported on by several Italian publications, that Vasseur’s job is on the line with the Frenchman having three races in which to save his job, while others claim Ferrari’s Le Mans’ performance, spearheaded by Ferrari’ WEC boss Antonello Coletta, could be the deciding factor.

Sainz called out the “finger-pointing” when he spoke with the media including PlanetF1.com in Montreal, just hours after the latest Vasseur speculation made headlines.

“It’s the same story as always,” the former Ferrari driver told the media in Montreal.

“The moment that the results don’t click in Ferrari, there’s always finger-pointing by the media and all this chaos happening.

“For me, it’s all about focusing on the process and delivering when it matters.”

The Spaniard reiterated his comment that he personally has no issue with Vasseur despite losing his race seat to Hamilton.

“I have a great relationship with him,” said the Williams driver. “”Obviously, we went through a tough month where he didn’t want me and signed Lewis, but apart from that, we made peace about it.

“I get on well [with him]. I’ve always rated him as a team principal and as a person.”

Hamilton, meanwhile, has made it clear that he joined Ferrari because of Vasseur and that the Frenchman is the right person to lead Ferrari to greatness.

“It’s definitely not nice to hear that there are stories like that that are out there,” he said.

“Firstly, I love working with Fred. Fred’s the main reason I’m in this team and got the opportunity to be here, which I’m forever grateful for. And we’re in this together. We’re working hard in the background.

“Things aren’t perfect, but for me, as I said, I’m here to work with the team, but also with Fred.

“I want Fred here. I do believe Fred is the person to take us to the top.”

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