F1 News
Ferrari hope to build on Hamilton's skills: 'Perfect for Leclerc as well'
In less than a month's time, Lewis Hamilton is set to compete in his first Grand Prix with Ferrari, after spending more than a decade with Mercedes. His relationship with the Scuderia's team principal, Frederic Vasseur, now goes back to more than two decades, and the Frenchman sees how Hamilton could also develop into the driver that can help his team a lot.
Hamilton and Vasseur worked together as the Briton achieved multiple titles in feeder series - Formula 3 Euro Series (2005) and GP2 (2006), before he got his first chance in Formula 1 with McLaren. Two decades have passed since than. "No, he (Hamilton) is not the same," Vasseur began to GPblog among others. "He's 20 years older than when we were together first and everybody is changing, improving, developing."
Hamilton perfect 'for the team, for me, for Charles!'
Vasseur now hopes that with what Hamilton learned in that time they didn't work together can now help his current team. Moreover, he also pointed out that Hamilton's experience can be useful for his teammate, Charles Leclerc.
"For sure, he's much more mature, much more experienced and he's the perfect fit with the team today. That's exactly what I was looking for the team, for me, for Charles. I think it's the perfect combination," he explained.
While Hamilton is more experienced, he also turned 40 years old in January. That does not concern Vasseur at all. "He showed in Abu Dhabi, starting from the back and coming back to P4, I think, overtaking Russell in the last lap, that the base is there and I had no doubt before."
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