Ferrari principal 'not worried at all' by Hamilton despite difficult 2024 season

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur is "not worried at all" about the incoming Lewis Hamilton, despite his disappointing 2024 season.

The seven-time world champion, who will officially join Ferrari in the new year, finished his final campaign with Mercedes in seventh place, the lowest position during his Formula One career.

Hamilton also finished 22 points adrift of team-mate George Russell, who generally outperformed him during qualifying.

Nevertheless, the 39-year-old still managed to notch up victories at the British and Belgian Grands Prix, and Vasseur thinks that competition with new team-mate Charles Leclerc will help push Ferrari forward.

"I am really convinced, and I don't want to blame Lewis or Mercedes, that this situation is not easy to manage," Vasseur said. "I can understand if it is not going well, you can suffer in this relationship.

"He was not very well in his mind and he was clear about this in Brazil, but he also did very well in the last couple of events, and I am not worried at all.

"Charles, Lewis, I am not particularly worried about this," Vasseur said. "They have a huge mutual respect, they know each other, they have been talking about this for months now.

"It is much better to fight for first and third place, or second and third, than to fight for 19th and 20th.

"It is a good issue for a team to have this kind of discussion and approach, and I am really convinced again that the performance of the team is coming from the emulation between the two."

On signing Hamilton, he added: "In 2023, we won more races than Mercedes, so it was not difficult to convince him Ferrari would be a good project.

"He had the project to drive for Ferrari in his mind for at least 22 or 23 years, because we were discussing this in 2004. It was not too difficult.

"Sometimes, it is also a matter of coincidence or to align all the planets, that he is on the market, that Ferrari have a seat available and so on. The contact was an easy one. We started to discuss one year ago, and it was not difficult to convince him."

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— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) December 13, 2024