Fred Vasseur reflects on Lewis Hamilton's first months at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton's first few months at Ferrari have not exactly gone to plan, and team principal Fred Vassuer has reflected on his team's performances in the opening races of their 2025 campaign.

Ferrari's best result so far remains Hamilton's sprint race victory at the Chinese GP, but otherwise the champion has had to contend with a series of minor points finishes in recent grands prix.

However, Vasseur is not concerned about Ferrari’s tumultuous start to the season, and in an interview with Formula 1 stated that the team are usually worse at the start of the season, suggesting that Hamilton's chances of a victory could increase throughout the year.

“I’m used [to it] because the last two years we started like this,” Vasseur said.

“For sure it is not ideal and I would prefer to win the first one. But we don’t need to change the approach from last year as we are almost in the same situation, perhaps a bit worse in terms of pace, and the reaction of the team was very, very strong.

“We worked as a team, made small step by small step and we have to keep exactly the same approach, but for sure it is not ideal.”

Can Ferrari fight for the championship in 2025?

Ferrari concluded the 2024 season in the hunt for the constructors’ championship, but were beaten to the title at the last race in Abu Dhabi where they had to settle for second.

Nevertheless, Ferrari enjoyed five race wins last year as their competitiveness increased throughout the year; but it appears the team have taken a step backwards at the start of 2025.

Hamilton and Leclerc’s double disqualification at the Chinese GP dealt a huge blow to the team early on in the season, which saw the two drivers tumble down the drivers’ standings.

Whilst they recovered with a points scoring result in Japan, Ferrari estimate they are still 0.3 to 0.4 seconds off front runners in McLaren who so far have failed to put a foot wrong, and have stood on the podium at all three rounds of the season.

READ MORE: McLaren dealt championship BLOW as team's disastrous 2025 start continues

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