Ferrari engineer slams Vasseur’s late call on Hamilton-Leclerc chaos

Fred Vasseur changes his mind about Ferrari’s ‘rules of combat’ after ‘very tense’ Mexico debrief.

Former Ferrari engineer Luigi Mazzola has slammed team principal Fred Vasseur for reacting too late to the simmering tension between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

The criticism follows a chaotic Mexico City Grand Prix where the two Ferrari drivers collided on track — and the fallout has now forced Vasseur to reverse a long-held policy.

For years, Vasseur resisted calls to introduce formal written instructions governing how his drivers race each other.

He believed two vastly experienced Formula 1 champions should be able to manage their battles through mutual respect and professional judgment.

He also worried that written protocols would become a new source of disagreement, with each driver interpreting the same rule differently in the heat of a race.

That approach unravelled in the space of a single lap at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

On lap one of the Mexico City Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc attempted to overtake Lewis Hamilton at the first chicane.

The move failed.

Leclerc tried again at turn four.

Both drivers ran wide.

That allowed Max Verstappen to snatch second place from Hamilton.

Leclerc was subsequently hit with a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

A potential Ferrari one-two finish evaporated.

Verstappen went on to win the race.

The post-race debrief at Ferrari’s hospitality unit was reportedly ‘very tense.’

Leclerc had a ‘face like thunder’ afterward, according to sources cited by F1 Oversteer.

He tried to downplay the incident in the media, but the damage was done.

Hamilton was initially tight-lipped about Leclerc’s move.

He later criticised his teammate’s ‘do or die mentality’ and suggested Leclerc had not put the team first.

The clash had echoes of an earlier incident at Monza, where Hamilton was the driver on the attack and ended up in the gravel due to Leclerc’s ruthless defending.

After that race, Hamilton called for ‘rules of engagement’ at Ferrari — just as he had at Mercedes.

At Mercedes, then-chief strategist James Vowles wrote the team’s rules, which set out what Vowles called the ‘base fundamentals.’

Vasseur resisted that approach at Ferrari.

Until now.

According to a report by Daily Mail Formula 1 correspondent Jonathan McEvoy, Vasseur is now ‘conducting talks about how to put the conflict to bed and draw up rules of combat that work best for the team.’

The shift represents a significant change in Vasseur’s management philosophy.

Former Ferrari engineer Luigi Mazzola did not hold back in his assessment of the situation.

Mazzola criticised Vasseur for failing to act sooner, arguing that the tension between the two drivers was predictable and should have been addressed long before Mexico.

He pointed to the Monza incident as an early warning sign that Vasseur ignored.

The Mexico clash, Mazzola argued, was a direct consequence of that inaction.

Nico Rosberg, Hamilton’s former teammate at Mercedes, has also weighed in on the situation.

Rosberg said Ferrari are ‘headed for disaster’ unless Vasseur lays down the law.

The German’s warning now appears prescient.

Behind the public drama, a deeper story is unfolding inside Maranello.

Leclerc is reportedly being ‘protected’ by key ‘factions within Ferrari’ after eight seasons with the team.

That has bothered Hamilton, who joined Ferrari at the start of the 2026 season after more than a decade at Mercedes.

According to F1 legend John Watson, speaking on the Drive to Wynn podcast, those factions are well connected.

‘You’ve got the Leclerc faction, which is very well connected through [former Ferrari team principal] Jean Todt, now Nicholas Todt, who’s the manager for Charles Leclerc,’ Watson said.

Vasseur now faces the challenge of reminding both drivers that, in his own words, ‘they’re not racing for themselves.’

Meanwhile, Vasseur has also admitted that Ferrari underestimated how difficult Hamilton’s transition to the team would be.

In an interview published Wednesday with Automoto.it, Vasseur gave a self-critical assessment.

‘I admit that we underestimated the challenge he faced in joining a completely different team,’ Vasseur said.

‘It’s not just a question of language or software.

The steering wheel and the nomenclature are different too.

‘There are so many things to digest that you end up leaving something on the table in terms of performance.