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Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has stated that Lewis Hamilton's real impact on the team is not the laptime he clocks with the car. It is much bigger, and it involves an intrinsic role on the project 6-8 months before the car is even rolled out.
Lewis Hamilton's performance of late has come under the scanner as the driver has struggled to put together strong weekends in his Mercedes. Compared to George Russell, Lewis has found himself lagging with the driver strugging to keep up with his teammate. At the same time, this is the British driver's last season at the German team. In 2025 he will be moving to Ferrari.
There are already two drivers at Ferrari, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who are quite competitive against each other. This has led to questions around Lewis Hamilton's selection with many F1 pundits questioning the choice as well. When the question was put to Fred Vasseur in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com, the Ferrari team principal laid out why Lewis Hamilton's selection is not only about what he does in the car.
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He said,
"The input of Lewis or another driver is not just about qualification lap time and so on. It's the finality of the job. What we all collectively can see Saturday or Sunday - at the end of the day, the job of the driver is much wider."
Vasseur added,
"It's starting sometimes six or eight months before the season, to be able to work on the next project, to bring his own experience, his own view on what we can do, or how we could do it and so on and so on."
Lewis Hamilton's addition to a young Ferrari unit is very important
Fred Vasseur stressed how Ferrari is a young and green unit at this stage. Fred took over the team only last season, and since then, he has been working to put the pieces together. One of them is Lewis Hamilton, who will bring his years of experience winning in F1 and help the team gradually get better to fight for the big prize. He explains,
"I think we are still a young team. It's not just a matter of age, but it's a matter of experience together, and wins together. So that means that we are quite green, or quite young, and to have someone into the loop with such a big background and such big experience will impact for sure."
Vasseur continues,
"We have time to discuss this with Lewis and for me into the building process of the team - you want to have a long-term view and for the next cycle. I'm not speaking about '24 or '25, it's about cycle and it's where clearly, we have to do steps."
Just like Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari has its eyes set on designer Adrian Newey as the next key signing. The Italian team has been putting together a stunning lineup that could just propel the team to the top.
