Lewis Hamilton receives a huge boost of support from Fred Vasseur as the Ferrari team principal backs the seven-time world champion to get on top of his struggles, pointing to his performance at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix weekend.
The 40-year-old took an impressive Sprint Pole ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.018 before delivering a commanding performance in the Sprint Race to gift his team the victory by 6.8 seconds through 19 laps.
However, outside of that weekend things haven’t been going too well for the 105-time winner, who has only managed to finish above sixth on just the solitary occasion at the Bahrain GP.
Languishing off the pace of Charles Leclerc and struggling to get up to speed with how the Scuderia’s power unit behaves, including unfamiliar elements such as engine braking and Brembo brakes – central to his racing style.
Additionally, the SF-25 has been plagued with a narrow working window and chronic understeer, prompting further problems to navigate across just three hours of practice time at a typical Grand Prix weekend.
As a result of this adapting process, Hamilton is facing questions about whether he has the speed needed to compete in Formula 1, but he receives a huge boost of support from Ferrari through the form of his boss.
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“I will be 2000% behind him,” Vasseur told members of the media, including Total-Motorsport.com. “And I will give him support here, and we will start from tomorrow morning to try to find solutions and reasons and to work on it early in the morning.
“But honestly, I am not too worried; if you have a look on what he did in China or what he did in the race in Bahrain last week, or even on the first part of the season except in this weekend, the potential is there for sure.
“We just have to adjust the balance because we are, collectively, Lewis and us, we are studying the balance of his car and he is working the tyres and it’s a kind of negative spot, but I think the potential of the car is there and we will try to solve that.”
What is the engine braking Hamilton and Ferrari use in Formula 1?
Engine braking refers to a method slowing the car down on the approach to a corner but utilising the mechanics of the engine in a bid to help offset tyre degradation and brake wear.
It works by requiring the driver to lift off the throttle, thus closing the air intake valves in the engine. In turn, this creates vacuum and adds resistance to the pistons; creating an overall deceleration.
Based on Hamilton’s own comments, this appears to be different to the system that Mercedes uses, with the Brit going as far as to say he’s never had to utilise engine braking for corner entry before.
“I have never used engine braking before,” Hamilton told members of the media, including Total-Motorsport.com, at the 2025 Bahrain GP. “For the past 12 years, we never used engine braking, but here we use it a lot in the car.
“The brakes are so much different to what I had in the past, they move around a little bit more and in the last stint, I had to use the rears to turn the car, but then at other times, you have to put all your weight on the fronts.”
