Lewis Hamilton ended an unequivocal defence of under-fire Formula 1 team boss Fred Vasseur with a request to "please stop making up stuff" about his own future too, in a surprising reaffirmation of his multi-year Ferrari deal.
The prospect of Ferrari splitting with Vasseur at the end of this year, the end of his original three-year contract since he was recruited to replace Mattia Binotto, has been raised ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix by prominent Italian publications including Gazzetta della Sport and Corriere della Sera.
Hamilton scored pole and a win in F1’s sprint race in China early in the season, and Ferrari has scored back-to-back podiums in the last two F1 races with Charles Leclerc to move into second in the constructors’ championship, but generally its 2025 season has been disappointing.
Ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, Gazzetta dello Sport reported that the next three races in Canada, Austria and Britain will be key to how much pressure Vasseur comes under internally, and that if Ferrari goes on to perform in the second half of the year as it has so far in 2025, he could be replaced.
Corriere della Sera went even further, calling several aspects of Vasseur’s tenure into question, and suggesting that Leclerc is now having serious doubts and his future.
“I was just made aware of it,” Hamilton said in Thursday’s FIA press conference in Montreal.
“It’s definitely not nice to hear that there are stories like that out there.
“Firstly, I love working with Fred. He’s the main reason I’m in this team and I’m forever grateful for it.
“We’re in this together. Things aren’t perfect. I’m here to work with the team, but also with Fred. I want Fred here. I believe Fred is the person to take us to the top.
“It’s nonsense, what people have written. Most people don’t know what’s going on in the background.
“There is naturally a lot of pressure because we want to win. But that’s not any part of the discussion at the moment.”
Ferrari has failed to build on a strong end to last year, which vaulted it unexpectedly into constructors’ championship contention even though it was ultimately defeated by McLaren.
Now its title drought looks almost certain to extend to 17 seasons, with Vasseur being the fifth team principal in that time - and seemingly setting it on a good trajectory in his first two years.
Asked by The Race how foolish would it be for the team to make a team boss change even when there’s been a bump in the road like this year, Hamilton said he didn’t think “that’s on the cards” and made it clear “that’s certainly not something that I’d be supportive of”.
“Embedding new people, new personnel - whether it’s a driver or engineers or the people who run an organisation - it takes time to adjust, and the impact that has is significant,” said Hamilton.
“So that’s not part of the discussion. I’m here to win with Fred. And he has my full support.”
In the same answer, Hamilton then unexpectedly segued onto his own situation, adding: “And then also to everyone that’s writing stories of me not racing: I’ve literally only just started here with Ferrari and I’m here for several years and I’m here for the long haul.
“So there is no question in where my head’s at and what I’m working towards achieving with this team.
“There’s zero doubts.”
At the very end of his answer he added with a smile: “So please stop making up stuff.”
That was a reference to speculation that has dogged Hamilton since the opening round of the year when Ferrari had a horrible Australian Grand Prix and he had some tetchy exchanges with his new race engineer.
Any low point since then has often been met with questions about Hamilton’s relationship with the team, his performances, and his future - at times fuelled by Hamilton himself doubting the job he is doing and whether he will be able to improve this year.
This included a particularly miserable assessment after the last race in Spain, before Hamilton subsequently discovered a car problem that “massively” impacted him there - although he and Ferrari will not disclose what that was.
