Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur pulls back the curtain on Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc team order debacle

Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur, shared his thoughts on the Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc team order debacle from the recently concluded Azerbaijan GP. Speaking of the incident, the Prancing Horse boss informed that it was a misjudgement from the part of Hamilton.

The 2025 Azerbaijan GP saw a miscommunication between the two Ferrari drivers as Hamilton failed to comprehend the team order. During the last stages of the race, the Prancing Horse asked Hamilton to let Leclerc pass so that he could attack the drivers ahead.

However, the seven-time world champion was unable to act in time, and as a result, Leclerc finished behind him in the race. Vasseur, speaking about how the miscommunication turned out, said:

“I think the situation was clear for us that Lewis had a tyre advantage and we asked Charles to let him go to try to overtake Lawson and Tsunoda or Norris,” he said as he explained why Ferrari initially ordered Leclerc to let Hamilton by. “On the top, Charles had the issue with the recovery and we are not at the top of the engine and that, I think, was the best option for us to do this move. We asked to swap back and it looks like Lewis had a misjudgment on the position of the start and finish line.”

Charles Leclerc started the race from P10 after crashing in Q3 of the qualifying on Saturday, and went on to finish the race in P9. Lewis Hamilton, however, started from P12 and improved fairly to come home in P8. Max Verstappen won the race ahead of George Russell and Carlos Sainz.

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Lewis Hamilton let his feelings known after Azerbaijan GP miscommunication

Lewis Hamilton shared his thoughts after he misjudged the Azerbaijan GP call by Ferrari. Speaking about how he failed to comprehend, here's what the seven-time world champion said:

Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Scuderia Ferrari SF-25 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan - Source: Getty

"At the end, I got the message really late on, and I was zoned in on the car in front of me, even though there was 0.001 chance of passing. I was still hopeful, maybe. Basically, I did lift on the straight and did actually brake, but I missed it by like four tenths, so that was just a misjudgment for myself. So I apologise to Charles."

However, Leclerc stated that it wasn't much of an issue given they were not competing for huge points, wins, or podiums. After 17 races and three sprints, Leclerc is in P5 in the Drivers' Championship with 165 points, and his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, is in P6 with 121 points. Ferrari are in P3 with 286 points.

Edited by Sabyasachi Biswas