Ferrari bin ‘arguments’ on pit wall which bodes well for Lewis Hamilton arrival
Lewis Hamilton is set to find a Ferrari who have shed their reputation for poor decision-making
The improved professionalism of Ferrari during F1 grands prix has been praised, which will bode well for Lewis Hamilton’s entry to the team.
Hamilton arrives at Ferrari next year and, judging by the early rounds of this season, will find a team which has shed its reputation for shoddy decision-making and poor strategies.
Fred Vasseur’s reign as team principal has seen Ferrari - and Carlos Sainz - become the only non-Red Bull winner of a grand prix either last year or this year.
Vasseur credited “confidence” and “calmness” of his staff for improved decisions on the pit wall.
“Fred’s interview was telling,” Sky Sports’ Bernie Collins analysed.
“He has come on board and it seems calmer.
“We’re not hearing the ‘Safety Car coming out, pit, don’t pit’ arguments that we heard in the past.
“It does seem like they make a decision, stick to it, everyone is on board.
“It seems much more together than Ferrari have been in the past.
“A lot of it is just giving the strategists or the race engineers - the experts in the field - when they make a decision, it shouldn’t be for upper management to say ‘I don’t agree’.
“They are obviously allowing trust across the pitwall for those with the knowledge to make the decisions.
“In the past it has resulted in an argument, then they miss their chance.”
Vasseur took over from Mattia Binotto as team principal a year ago.
It has become a role held by ever-changing personnel, none of whom have delivered Ferrari’s first F1 drivers’ championship since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.
The arrival of Hamilton next season means Ferrari mean business in their pursuit of the title.
At last week’s F1 Japanese Grand Prix, Ferrari’s tyre strategy differed from Mercedes and both of their cars finished ahead, and behind only the two Red Bulls.
“The beginning of last year, or previous to that, Ferrari suffered high tyre deg,” Collins said.
“They seemed to get on top of that last year.
“In this race with Charles Leclerc, he was in front. On the medium tyre. He gave good feedback to the team to say ‘this tyre feels okay’.
“And in in free air, you can control it more than in traffic on the hard tyre.
“Every time you get overtaken on the hard tyre, you lose tyre temperature, it’s difficult to control, you lose lap time.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
