Vasseur on Hamilton's 'angry' radio about 'team orders': 'I don't want to fight with this'
14:36, 23 Mar 2025
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Savannah Lenz is a Formula 1 journalist at GPblog with a broad interest in motorsport. With experience in content creation and journalism, she delivers accessible and reliable coverage for a global F1 audience.
During the Chinese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc swapped positions. Initially, it seemed like a team order, but after the race, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur told Viaplay what had actually happened.
Before Leclerc and Hamilton were disqualified from the official results of the Chinese Grand Prix, the Ferrari duo finished the race at the Shanghai international circuit in 5th and 6th.
Regarding Leclerc’s performance, Vasseur said, “Yeah, he did a very strong race. The pace was amazing and he was even able to fight with Max and Russell. It's probably a bit of a shame if you consider the loss of downforce that we had all over the race and the lack of balance. But it is like it is and it's encouraging for us. We have to take the positive of the weekend that we scored good points all over the weekend but it's a shame.”
Vasseur on Hamilton swapping positions
When asked if Vasseur had talked to Hamilton about him sounding upset over ‘team orders,’ Vasseur clarified the situation.
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“Not really, because the first call came from Lewis. He proposed to swap. You have to listen to the full story. Lewis proposed to swap, and then he picked up a little bit the pace, and he swapped, and it's not an issue at all.”
He continued, “I'm used to from the beginning of the season each time that we are saying white, tons of people are saying black and when we are saying pink, it's grey, but it is like it is, and I don't want to fight with this.”
Vasseur said, “Lewis proposed to swap, and I'm sure that I will have tons of questions about this, but it's a joke.”
He ended, "It's not an issue for the team."
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