"So basically calling him a Mercedes merchant?": Fans react to Ferrari boss claiming they underestimated Lewis Hamilton's adaptation challenge

F1 Grand Prix Of Hungary - Source: Getty
Lewis Hamilton of United Kingdom driver of the F1 race car No44, the Ferrari SF25 for the Scuderia Ferrari HP Formula One Team- Source: Getty

F1 fans were left a bit conflicted after Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur claimed that he and Lewis Hamilton underestimated the adaptation process to the Italian team at the start of the 2025 season. The British driver made his long-anticipated move to Maranello at the start of the year in his bid to win an elusive eighth world championship.

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However, despite some shoots of some positive results, the move has not panned out the way the pair would have hoped for, given the Brit's struggle to gel with the SF-25. The seven-time F1 world champion has been comprehensively beaten by his teammate Charles Leclerc in the first half of the 2025 season and is yet to finish on a podium in the main race.

Speaking with The Race, Vasseur admitted that he underestimated Lewis Hamilton's difficulty in adapting to Italian culture and pointed out that the latter had been part of the teams based in the UK, saying:

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"Lewis and I, we collectively, probably underestimated the change of environment, and the fact that he spent, for me, 20 years in the same team. McLaren was Mercedes, and then he moved to Mercedes: an English team [based in Brackley], same engine guys, that same culture and so on.
"So he spent 2006 to 2024, 18 years, in this environment, and then he arrived at Ferrari. And we were stupidly expecting that he will have everything under control."
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F1 fans took to social media to give their reactions to Frederic Vasseur's comments about Lewis Hamilton on X, with one fan saying:

"So basically calling him a Mercedes merchant? Fairs Fred, fairs,"
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"Blud was at the same team for 12 seasons. What did you expect?" asked a fan.
"Fred seems to be getting the dots right in this statement," claimed another.

However, some fans were optimistic about the ex-Mercedes's ability to turn the situation around:

"Give him a decent car. He will get the job done. You got a taste of Hamilton at the China sprint race. He just needs a car," wrote another.
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"It's all too dramatic tbh. He's within a couple tenths of the quickest guy on the grid, it's not some disaster."
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"I can see Lewis contending next year with the regulation changes,"
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Ferrari team boss gives an optimistic outlook on Lewis Hamilton's first half

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur stated that Lewis Hamilton needed a couple of races to get more comfortable with the car, but he believed that the latter was showing signs of progress before his two difficult weekends in Spa and Hungary.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the Frenchman reflected and said:

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"It took Lewis four or five races to be a bit more in control. And I would say that from Canada, Spain, UK, Austria, he was there. He was. In Spa he had a tough weekend, but for different reasons with a difficult qualifying. But then in the race, he was very good. And [Hungary] I think it was more details."

Lewis Hamilton currently sits P6 in the driver's standings and has a gap of 42 points to his teammate with 10 races and three sprints remaining in the 2025 season.

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Edited by Devang Chauhan
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