Ferrari boss declares ‘Lewis Hamilton is back’ following strong US GP form

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has claimed that ‘Lewis Hamilton is back’ after a strong United States Grand Prix showing. 

After joining Ferrari at the start of the year, Hamilton has taken time to adjust to the new team, with Vasseur previously admitting that he and the Briton may have underestimated the challenge of the move.

But after a positive weekend at the Circuit of The Americas where Hamilton finished both the sprint race and the grand prix in fourth, Vasseur pointed out that the seven-time champion was faster than his team-mate Charles Leclerc for two thirds of the weekend.

“It’s good for the team because we need to have this kind of emulation for everybody. You need to have two cars. For us it’s important, and if we want to maximise the number of points that we’ll score until the end, we have to score with two cars for sure,” Vasseur told Sky Sports Germany. “And Lewis is back. Two thirds of the weekend he was faster than Charles this weekend. It’s good for the team and the emulation.”

Leclerc secured a third-place finish in the grand prix and a fifth-place finish in the sprint race. The weekend in Austin led Ferrari to close in on Mercedes in the constructors’ standings, with seven points now separating the two teams.

“We had a very difficult Friday and a good recovery all over the weekend,” Vasseur added. “The pace today was decent. We were aggressive on the strategy and in the end it paid off, but it was quite brave from Charles and the team. But I think it’s good for us to have this kind of result and to attack Mexico in a much better shape.”

Clarifying his comments on the “very difficult Friday”, the Frenchman added: “In the sprint the pace was OK, we were just stuck behind Carlos, but the pace was good. Quali was much more difficult. I think we struggled to put the tyres in the right window.

“If you compare between SQ3 and Q3, it was true for us and true for Mercedes. We did a huge step compared to McLaren and Red Bull. But I think it’s like this from the beginning of the season. You always have a big swing of performance if you are able to get the best from the tyres or not. I think we did a much better job Saturday, Sunday than Friday.”

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