Vasseur still defending struggling Leclerc

Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has continued to defend Charles Leclerc.

It is Carlos Sainz, rather than Leclerc, who is being ousted at the end of the year to make room for Lewis Hamilton.

So will the arrival of a seven time world champion be good news or bad news for Leclerc, who is struggling even to consistently match the impressive Sainz this year?

"I don’t want to think about it because we have a lot of work to do this season," Vasseur told Sky Italia.

"We know the positives of Lewis’ arrival. Everyone has been saying that (George) Russell is faster than him, but at the moment he (Hamilton) has scored more points for Mercedes."

As for Leclerc’s recent struggles with the 2024 Ferrari, Vasseur admitted: "He has had some problems in the last few weekends. But I still think he is there. Sometimes we have overreacted collectively.

"When I say that, I am not talking about Charles or anyone in particular, because the first problem we have is with the package and then as a team we unconsciously try to compensate," he added.

One theory is that while Sainz has simply been focused on attracting a new team for 2025 and beyond, both Ferrari and Leclerc have suffered from instability.

For instance, while McLaren is now a very stable outfit that is suddenly dominating F1, Ferrari has lost its technical boss Enrico Cardile amid rumours the Maranello based team is desperately trying to sign Adrian Newey.

"I don’t think so," Vasseur said. "We are talking about individuals, someone who could arrive, and we are a group of over 1000 people. You can change A with B or B with C, but it won’t change the organisation.

"I was upset to read in the press that we could hire 20 people because this sends a negative message to the people who work here already. It is not the objective of a team that is very happy with the work done in the last 12 months."

The ’20 people’ rumour is that Ferrari has now rejected the idea of signing Newey because of his excessive demands, which would put too much pressure on the budget cap.

"This is both true and not true," Vasseur said. "The top three salaries are excluded from the budget cap, so even if Aston Martin hired Newey, he would not be included."

The Frenchman hinted recently that Ferrari was poised to announce a new appointment with a "five-letter name" - ramping up the Newey rumours again.

"It is no secret that Loic Serra will join the team next month," Vasseur now insists. "He will be a good reinforcement and an added value because he has a huge experience in F1.

"I always avoid talking about just one name because we are in a process and from the beginning, since I arrived, we took the decision to strengthen the team in terms of areas and we have probably hired 60 people.

"But I prefer to keep a low profile and trust the people we already have."

As for Leclerc, Vasseur also defended the Monegasque driver in an interview with the New York Times. "He still has the same characteristic - to blame himself first," he said. "For this, he didn’t change.

"But overall, I think he is on the trajectory I saw in the past. He’s doing a mega good job in the car, and in terms of motivation and the collaboration with everybody. We can’t complain."