Lewis Hamilton’s fifth-place finish in Bahrain came after a difficult qualifying session but the Ferrari hierarchy are urging patience from multiple world champion at his new team
Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur has told Lewis Hamilton to “calm down” following another up and down weekend in Bahrain for the multiple world champion. Hamilton, 40, recorded his best finish to date for the Scuderia by finishing fifth having come only a disappointing ninth in qualifying while team-mate Charles Le Clerc was on the front row.
But Vasseur says Hamilton is performing “very strong and consistent” for his new team despite only being seventh in the drivers’ championship after four races with 25 points, 52 behind early pacesetter Lando Norris. And the team boss is urging patience from Hamilton as he settles into life at his new team.
“After [the sprint race] in China, we were speaking about the prize-giving ceremony, and after the race in China, it was a total disaster,” Vasseur said in Bahrain.
“In terms of management, we have to take it easy, to calm down as the issue is that, probably for us, the ups are a bit higher and the downs are a bit lower.
“It means that if we want to keep a consistent approach, which we did very well in the last two years, we have to stay calm to improve hundredths of seconds by hundredths of seconds.
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“I understand the frustration of [Saturday] evening because if you have a look from FP1 to Q2, he was a tenth, plus or minus with Charles.
“Then you arrive into Q3 and the first lap is deleted and on the second one, he made a mistake and then you pay the price because the grid is not made up of the average, but on the last lap.
“For sure there is a bit of frustration for him, but also for us. He had a very strong recovery, had a solid race and came back in P5.
“The race time compared to the top two or three is almost similar and that means for me, it was okay, and he was very strong and consistent.
“But with the field we have now, if you miss two or three-tenths in qualifying because you made a mistake, you will lose six or seven positions.”
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