Lewis Hamilton is months away from leaving Mercedes and joining Ferrari which will see him reunite with Fred Vasseur, whom he has known for ages. However, the old friendship that Hamilton and Vasseuer share could end up taking a hit if “success” becomes an issue for the Briton at Ferrari, per former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner.
On the Nailing The Apex podcast, Steiner gave his take on the potential dynamic between Hamilton and Vasseuer, who took over as Ferrari’s team principal in 2023. Their old bonding, in Steiner’s opinion, could help Hamilton settle well in the team. How things unfold later, however, depends on Ferrari’s performance.
Steiner said,
“The issue could come up if they don’t have success, you know. One or the other, either the team or the driver doesn’t perform, then obviously it’s a new scenario.”
Despite the potential highlighted issue, Steiner believes there is no reason why Hamilton and Vasseur won’t get along at Ferrari. “I think they’ve been there before, and I think they’ve got a good chance to sort the problem out,” asserted the 59-year-old.
Steiner keeps in mind the fact that Hamilton and Vasseur’s relationship goes way before they became big names in F1. Hamilton raced under the latter’s guidance in Formula 3 as well as GP2 in his junior days.
Lewis Hamilton and Fred Vasseur’s connection
Hamilton and Vasseur developed a close relationship back in the early 2000s, when the Stevenage-born driver was making waves in the junior Formula categories. He drove for Vasseur’s F3 team ASM and GP2 team ART, and together, they won 2005 Euro Series and the 2006 GP2 Series.
In 2007, the two of them parted ways, with Hamilton going on to become a force to reckon with in F1 whereas Vasseur remained in the junior Formulas, developing other young drivers.
Vasseur made his way to F1 nine years later through Renault before becoming Team Principal of Sauber in 2017. After seven seasons in charge of the Hinwil-based outfit, Vasseur joined Ferrari, where the 55-year-old will reunite with Hamilton in 2025.
Hamilton and Vasseur haven’t been in the same team since 2007 and even in F1, their interests remained different. Still, their friendship made them stay in touch and the seven-time World Champion admitted to talking to his former boss before almost all his races through the years.
