It followed reports in the same paper that tensions had flared inside Ferrari as its title chances collapsed thanks to a run of badly executed races and poor performances.<\/p>\n
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Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship\u2122 LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n Cracks supposedly began showing at the team\u2019s disastrous home race in Monza, where Charles Leclerc crashed out and Hamilton finished an uncompetitive sixth.<\/p>\n Hamilton appeared to blame Vasseur for the poor race coordination between himself and Leclerc that led to them clashing at the first turn of the race and for other squandered chances at previous events, including a potential lost victory at the Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately it comes from the top,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cIt trickles down, the decisions, and so it starts with Fred.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s only so much you can say, so much you can push and shout from the mountain top.<\/p>\n \u201cYesterday I said that we\u2019ve got to look at just how we communicate, because if we continue to travel the same path, we get the same result \u2014 and we keep getting the same result.\u201d<\/p>\n Corriere della Sera described Hamilton as playing a \u201cdangerous game for internal harmony\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHamilton \u2026 carefully calculates the potential impact of his words; nothing is ever left to chance,\u201d the paper reported.<\/p>\n \u201cThis habit of publicly comparing Ferrari\u2019s dynamics to Mercedes\u2019 \u2014 and indirectly criticising Vasseur rather than projecting unity \u2014 risks undermining a team already under pressure rather than building it on a foundation of trust. But what is the real objective here?<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a dangerous game for internal harmony \u2014 unless Hamilton aims to claim credit for selecting the new team principal, just as he does for the chassis, suspension, or liveries…<\/p>\n \u201cWe could also flip the question: is Hamilton dismantling the team because it isn\u2019t working, or is the team failing because someone keeps tearing it apart just as things are coming together?<\/p>\n \u201cIt is worth noting that while speaking out boldly to the media is easy, it may also signal an inability to be equally persuasive behind closed doors.\u201d<\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: After featuring the fewest overtakes of any race this season, what will it take to save Madrid\u2019s new track just one year into a 10-year deal? Listen to Pit Talk here ><\/a><\/p>\n The commentary has made its way to Hamilton, who took to social media to dismiss them.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen some of the stories that have gone out and I want to clear it up here,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve never asked for anyone on my team to be replaced. Everyone I work with works hard every day, and their dedication is what moves us forward.<\/p>\n \u201cI always try to empower and lift people to be the best versions of themselves or at least see the best in themselves. I may not always achieve that, but it\u2019s my intention and what I\u2019m here to do. We all work together, and that will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n Long-time Italian journalist Giorgio Terruzzi told his podcast Terruzzi Racconta this week<\/a> that communication between Vasseur and become problematic and that the relationship between the boss and his team was labouring.<\/p>\n \u201cThe \u2018Vasseur issue\u2019 is a recurring theme; it pops up every year because of the way things are managed,\u201d he said. \u201cThe problem is real, just as the relationship with [Ferrari CEO Benedetto] Vigna is now virtually non-existent.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is also a sense of friction at Maranello because he is rarely seen around. They call him \u2018Napoleon\u2019 because he seems to adopt the attitude of an absolute ruler \u2014 a bit off-putting, a bit arrogant.\u201d<\/p>\n Terruzzi also suggested that Ferrari is weighing up its post-Vasseur era but has no concrete alternatives, with the company\u2019s reportedly preferred successor Antonello Coletta, the successful endurance racing boss, apparently not interested.<\/p>\n Fellow veteran journalist Pino Allievi added that Ferrari chairman John Elkann hasn\u2019t given up on luring Christian Horner to the team despite the job not matching the former Red Bull Racing chief\u2019s desire to have a stake in his next venture.<\/p>\n \u201cElkann is fond of Horner, but I don\u2019t think Horner would go for that arrangement.\u201d He said: \u201cHe wants to be a manager in the mould of [Mercedes boss an co-owner] Wolff.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019d like [McLaren principal] Andrea Stella, but I believe he turned them down just a couple of months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n CARNAGE as Max takes on 100 drivers | 02:04<\/p>\n RED BULL NONCOMMITTAL ON HADJAR COMEBACK DATE<\/p>\n Red Bull Racing boss Laurent Mekies won\u2019t commit to returning Isack Hadjar to the cockpit for next weekend\u2019s Azerbaijan Grand Prix as the French driver continues his injury recovery program.<\/p>\n Hadjar fractured his wrist in a training accident during the midseason break and has missed all three grands prix since then, with Liam Lawson standing in for him and Yuki Tsunoda replacing Lawson at Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n Though Hadjar is believed to be likely to return in Baku, Mekies said his recovery program wouldn\u2019t be rushed, with little on the line in an early comeback.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we have learned that it\u2019s fundamentally normal time for the sort of injuries he has,\u201d Mekies said in Spain of his driver\u2019s extended absence.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will continue with the same approach than what we had. We will evaluate the situations in a week\u2019s time. We have a full week \u2014 more than a full week \u2014 to evaluate the situation to see how he feels and then to put him on the simulator, to expose him to real-life constraints.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he feels close to 100 per cent, we go for it. If he feels the recovery is not completed, we will stick [with] our approach to put his recovery first.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we don\u2019t want to do is by having an early return, compromise his long-term capacity to come back to 100 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Hadjar is surely determined to return to the cockpit as quickly as possible, he has taken advice from MotoGP title leader Marc M\u00e1rquez, who has spent the last six seasons battling the repercussions of attempting to rush his comeback from a broken arm.<\/p>\n M\u00e1rquez broke his right humerus at the 2020 season opener in Jerez but attempted to ride at the following weekend\u2019s race at the same circuit, infamously completing 20 decline push-ups to prove his fitness to compete.<\/p>\n MotoGP doctors allowed him to ride, but he withdrew after practice in pain and didn\u2019t race for the rest of the season, in part because he later required further surgeries \u2014 one to repair a broken plate in his arm and another for a bone graft.<\/p>\n In 2022 he went under the knife again to break and reset the bone after it was discovered to have healed 30 degrees out of rotation.<\/p>\n He continues to suffer problems with his right arm, with his surgeon saying it is operating at only 50 per cent of its capacity<\/a> owing to seven surgeries over six years, the most recent being to replace a bent screw that was pinching a nerve.<\/p>\n He nonetheless won last year\u2019s championship and last weekend took the lead in the 2026 rider standings<\/a>.<\/p>\n F1 backs Middle East return in 2027 | 00:54<\/p>\n ALPINE HIRES EX-MERCEDES TECHNICAL BOSS<\/p>\n Alpine has hired former Mercedes technical chief Mike Elliott as its chief technical officer as it attempts to keep up the momentum of its 2026 gains.<\/p>\n Elliott will slot into the newly created position above executive technical director David Sanchez \u2014 who joined the team in 2024 from Ferrari and a three-month stint at McLaren \u2014 to \u201clead and oversee the technical and engineering functions at the team\u2019s factory in Enstone\u201d.<\/p>\n The 52-year-old engineer has worked for the team previously, having been its principal aerodynamicist from late 2008 until halfway through 2012, when he joined Mercedes as its head of aerodynamics and later became its technology director.<\/p>\n Mercedes rose meteorically with the change of rules in 2014, winning eight constructors title through to the end of 2021.<\/p>\n But Elliott\u2019s final years at Mercedes were less successful. He took the helm as technical director for 2022 and oversaw the team\u2019s disastrous start to the ground effect era, characterised by the so-called \u2018zeropod\u2019 aerodynamic design that proved impossible to master outside the wind tunnel.<\/p>\n It doubled down on the idea for the following season but ultimately changed tack halfway through the year.<\/p>\n