Ferrari boss urges Lewis Hamilton feedback to develop SF-25 F1 2025 car
Lewis Hamilton can help Ferrari develop in "every single area" in F1 2025, it has been claimed.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur believes Lewis Hamilton can help the team develop in "every single area” during the 2025 F1 season.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton is gearing up for his debut campaign with F1’s most iconic team after completing a blockbuster winter transfer from rivals Mercedes to link up with Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton has tested Ferrari’s 2023, 2024 and 2025 cars as he looks to speed up his assimilation ahead of the season, where he will hope to challenge for a record-breaking eighth world title.
The 40-year-old Briton joins a Ferrari team on the rise, with the Scuderia narrowly missing out on winning a first constructors’ championship since 2008 last term to McLaren.
“This is true for every single driver on the grid, they all are part of the development of the car, of the evolution of the car,” Vasseur told media including Crash.net.
“For sure, Lewis is in the first stage of this collaboration because he did only two TPCs and is now on track [SF-25 shakedown]. But for sure, the feedback is always important because the feedback is helping the team to develop and to do a better job.
“Even if it's on small details, what we have to keep in mind is that last year we finished 14 points behind McLaren. It means that it's less than one point per race. It's an average of 300 seconds between us and the guy in front of us on the grid.
“It means we are always speaking about details. It's not a matter of changing the car completely or whatever. If we are able to bring a small bit of performance on one or two topics, it's already a huge step forward.
“Lewis is coming with his own experience, with his own background, and he will help the team to develop in every single area. For sure, we will do a quick comparison between the two engines, between the two chassis, between how we operate on track.
“As a team, we have to avoid being shy and to try to understand where we can improve. And this is my job and the job of the technicians.”
Lewis Hamilton ‘the perfect fit’ for Ferrari
Hamilton has spoken of feeling “invigorated” following his switch to Maranello, and Vasseur, who was his team boss when he won the GP2 championship in 2006, believes the former Mercedes driver is the “perfect fit” for Ferrari.
"He's not the same, he's 20 years older than when we were together first and everybody is changing, improving, developing,” Vasseur explained.
"For sure, he's much more mature, much more experienced and he's the perfect fit with the team today.
"That's exactly what I was looking for, for the team, for me, for Charles, I think it's the perfect combination.”
Hamilton’s notable struggles in a disappointing final season with Mercedes have led some to question whether his best days are behind him, but Vasseur has reiterated he has no doubts about his star signing.
“He showed in Abu Dhabi, starting from the back and coming back to P4, overtaking Russell in the last lap, that the pace is there and I had no doubt before,” he added.
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