"He’s clueless. Absolutely clueless.": Fans react to Ferrari boss claiming Lewis Hamilton was faster than Charles Leclerc in Monza

Fans reacted as Ferrari team principal, Frederic Vasseur, commented on his drivers' pace, mentioning Lewis Hamilton was faster than Charles Leclerc during the Italian Grand Prix. This was debated, as the latter managed to finish ahead of his teammate and was seemingly much more consistent throughout the race.

The Italian GP saw none of the Ferraris on the podium for the first time in multiple seasons. While this was a disappointing result for the team, this trend has followed them the entire season so far. The SF-25 has been largely uncompetitive; moreover, Lewis Hamilton has also struggled adapting to its driving style.

The weekend at Monza began with Ferraris topping the charts; however, they moved back to being the third/fourth best as the race started on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton started in P10 owing to a grid penalty and moved up to P6, stuck behind George Russell. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc finished the race in P4 after fighting hard for a podium.

Reacting to his drivers' results, Fred Vasseur claimed that Hamilton had shown better from the start of the weekend.

"At the end of the day, Lewis’s pace was better from the start compared to Charles’s. During the race, he battled with Russell, which allowed him to come back to a better position," he said.

Fans on social media, however, disagreed with him. They suggested that Leclerc had a much better pace throughout the weekend, and so has been the case for the entire season so far. Many also mentioned that Vasseur was "clueless" about the situation.

Philip West

@Philip_RJ89

@effonecasualfan He’s clueless. Absolutely clueless.

MD

@made_moody

@FerrariF1FRA Every weekend we watch Fred go above and beyond to justify signing Hamilton & statements like this makes it clear how hard he's having to try.

Rich Porter

@KevinDykstra7

@effonecasualfan He's starting to sound like Binotto.......... Just yapping

Vasseur also mentioned that Ferrari's gap to the World Championship leaders, McLaren, was minimal in the race. This was another controversial opinion, as fans again disagreed.

kidrov

@khan_ye_west

@FerrariF1FRA He really said the gap was minimal 😭🤡

ellie ¹⁶

@leclercex

@FerrariF1FRA “the gap was minimal” 🙄 yeah it’s not like mclaren left it to the last second to pit their drivers and then had a whole fiasco with norris and swapping them. that’s the only reason we were within 5 seconds, not because the car was fast. more shameless nonsense from him again.

x

@xxxiiiiizzz

@FerrariF1FRA Oh my days we watched the race dear sir this waffling needs to stop now

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Lewis Hamilton admits Ferrari did not have the pace to battle McLaren at Monza

A podium would have been possible for Ferrari if Max Verstappen's Red Bull had underperformed slightly, which had been the case for a large part of the season prior to the race in Monza. However, the Dutchman was seemingly unbeatable throughout the weekend. He set the record for the fastest lap in F1 history during qualifying, and then broke the record for the quickest Formula 1 race after crossing the chequered flag within just 1 hour, 13 minutes, and 23 seconds.

Reacting to the pace the podium-sitters (Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri) delivered, Lewis Hamilton agreed that a top three wasn't in the books for Ferrari in the race.

"I didn’t deserve to be on the podium today so I won’t be going to the podium but I’ll probably go out to the wall to see (all the fans)," Lewis Hamilton told Sky Sports.

He further mentioned that the car did not have the pace to battle McLaren and Red Bull.

"Charles was giving it everything. Max is up there now. We don’t have the pace of Red Bull – today they were rapid – and we don’t have the pace of McLaren. So I think we are fourth, fifth. If we do an exceptinal job we can maybe get a podium here or there. There’s a chance we can have that but in terms of pure pace we don’t have that."

This was a contrasting opinion to that of Frederic Vasseur, who claimed that the gap between the McLaren and the Ferrari was "minimal." The Italian outfit still holds the second position in the Constructors' Championship, and is in a battle with Mercedes for the same.