Lewis Hamilton’s F1 boss confident of FIA Ferrari decision: ‘A new championship will begin
Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari F1 boss Fred Vasseur has issued a very confident verdict regarding a pending FIA decision, which could make or break the Scuderia’s season.
From 2026 onwards, F1 has completely overhauled the power unit and chassis rules, ushering in a new regulations cycle for the sport that has proved rather unpopular.
The new ruleset has tripled the focus on electrical energy output, much to the dismay of many drivers such as Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, with the latter calling the way the new regulations manifest during qualifying, ‘a f****** joke’ during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for Hamilton, Leclerc and their Ferrari F1 squad, who have proved to be competitive off the line so far this season thanks to their lightning fast starting procedure.
They are however still off the pace of the Mercedes during a full-length race, with seven-time champion Hamilton admitting that he feared that the strength of the Mercedes power unit may begin to benefit customer team McLaren in the coming months, causing the Italian squad to slip down the order.
The Ferrari team principal assessed Leclerc and Hamilton’s qualifying results of P4 and P6 respectively, saying: “We performed better in Q2 than in Q3; we need to understand why and extract more from the car’s potential. Let’s focus on the race, with a good start and a smart strategy. We’ll do our best; we’ve already been competing with Mercedes.
The Frenchman then shed light on how he believed the FIA’s pending decision on giving Ferrari and their fellow power unit manufacturers Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) could benefit the Scuderia, hinting that they will really be able to bring the fight to the Silver Arrows from May onwards.
“The aim is always to win races, but we’re scoring plenty of points and a new championship will begin in Miami,” Vasseur declared.
For 2026, the FIA have introduced a safety net of sorts for struggling power unit manufacturers, and whilst Ferrari are nowhere near as in need of additional upgrade opportunities as Aston Martin and their works partners Honda, they could still qualify.