Binotto questions the Hamilton move, Vasseur hits back at former team boss
Red Bull Content Pool
F1 News
Former Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto and current team principal Frederic Vasseur have shared some back-and-forth words towards each other surrounding the change in driver at the Scuderia. Lewis Hamilton will make the huge move from Mercedes to join the Italian team, and there has been some disagreement between the two team bosses.
Hamilton, who has been at Mercedes since 2013, will now change allegiances and drive for Ferrari for the 2025 season, searching for his record-breaking eighth world title. He will replace Carlos Sainz at the Prancing Horse, with the Spaniard making the move to Williams for the next season.
The Spaniard picked up two wins this year, in Australia and Mexico. In doing so, he did not do much worse than Charles Leclerc , who won three times this season. In the world championship, the difference after 24 races was 66 points, but it should be added that Sainz had to skip the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix because of appendicitis.
Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, regularly lost out to George Russell this year while at Mercedes, which raises the question of whether the seven-time world champion is now past his peak now that he is moving to Ferrari. "I would not have signed him," Binotto said to Corriere della Sera earlier this year. "But he [Hamilton] did the right thing by going, I agree with his decision."
Vasseur snaps back at Binotto
Confronted with those words of his predecessor, Vasseur jokes: "I am not sure Hamilton would have gone to Sauber!" Binotto, after leaving Ferrari and then taking a sabbatical, joined Sauber this season as CEO, where he will work on the transformation from Sauber to Audi in 2026. "I am happy that so many people have time to comment on our choices. I am focused on our work, because when I was at Sauber, I was not talking about Ferrari."
In other words, the Frenchman thinks Binotto should be comfortable with his own role and the responsibilities that come with it. Vasseur himself, at least, has full confidence in Hamilton, even if the results may have been less in recent weeks: "He is in a complicated situation at the end of a long partnership, there is also some frustration. Lewis knew it was not going to be an easy season."
This article was created in collaboration with Corwin Kunst
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