Ferrari team principal faces fan backlash for claiming Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc could have qualified P4 and P5

Ferrari fans have reacted furiously to Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur claiming that Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc could have potentially finished P4 & P5 in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday. The Scuderia pair was knocked out in Q2 and will start Sunday's race at Imola from the sixth row on the grid.

Ferrari had yet another horrible outing during qualifying at Imola, with both their drivers getting knocked out in the second round of qualifying, with Charles Leclerc around a tenth away from safety. Hamilton's Saturday troubles also continued, with the driver ending in P12 for the second race weekend in a row.

After the session, the Scarlet Red team's boss, Fred Vasseur, made a rather peculiar statement, claiming that his drivers could have finished P4 and P5 during the qualifying round if the team had done everything correctly. Fans over social media reacted to this statement by the Frenchman, with many expressing their annoyance.

"Execution or potential problem today? 50/50, 50 for execution and 50 for potential. If we had done everything correctly, we would have been P4 & P5."

"fred vasseur sleep with one eye open," said one fan.

"In what world is this man living," asked another user.

"Go. F***. Yourself. A******," said another fan.

Here are some more reactions:

"Absolute clown," said another fan.

"No way he said that in front of Imola 🙈🙈," said another user.

"So we're happy for potential P4 & P5 now 🤣🤣🤣," said yet another fan.

Ferrari currently sit in P4 in the constructors' championship, just 11 points behind Red Bull Racing in third. It is looking increasingly unlikely that the Italian team will be able to compete with runaway leaders McLaren in the constructors' title, to match their 2024 efforts of competing with the Papaya team until the final round in Abu Dhabi.

---

Lewis Hamilton shares his thoughts after Ferrari's disaster in Imola qualifying

Lewis Hamilton during the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton shared that the Ferrari simply "can't go quicker" in an admission after Emilia-Romagna GP qualifying on Saturday. The Briton has now been knocked out in Q2 twice in the 2025 season.

Speaking to the media after the qualifying session, Hamilton shared his analysis about what went wrong on Saturday for the Maranello-based team.

"We just can't go quicker. We put that new soft on at the end. For some reason, it just didn't feel alive. There was no extra grip," said Hamilton (via simsgazette on X)

While Hamilton's teammate, Leclerc, was also knocked out in Q2 and finished only one spot above the 40-year-old, the Monegasque has yet again outqualified his teammate. This continues the run of Hamilton being outqualified by his teammate in all conventional qualifying sessions in the 2025 season.