Fred Vasseur disagrees with Lewis Hamilton about cause of his Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying horror

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Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur saw one ‘crucial’ reason why Lewis Hamilton delivered his worst qualifying result for a Hungarian Grand Prix, while Charles Leclerc took pole.

The mood on either side of the Scuderia garage was very contrasting on Saturday afternoon, as Hamilton only qualified P12 for the 2025 Hungarian GP. It marks the first time that the 40-year-old has ever qualified lower than P7 at the Hungaroring when he has posted a lap time.

Only when Hamilton suffered an engine failure in qualifying for the 2014 Hungarian GP with Mercedes had the Briton previously failed to reach the top-10 shootout. The seven-time F1 champion also has nine pole positions and has topped eight qualifying sessions in Hungary.

In contrast, Leclerc has never previously liked the Hungaroring but he will line up on pole on Sunday. The 27-year-old gave Ferrari their first pole position at the Hungarian GP since 2017 when Sebastian Vettel won, after denying McLaren rival Oscar Piastri by only 0.026 seconds.

Lewis Hamilton claims Ferrari ‘need to change driver’ after qualifying P12 in Hungary

Leclerc pulled a rabbit out of the hat in Q3 to master the cooling conditions with a 1:15.372, compared to the 1:15.398 that Piastri penned for P2 and the 1:15.413 that Lando Norris set for P3. The Monegasque even improved his 1:15.455 from Q2 by 0.083s as his rivals slowed.

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Piastri went 0.457s slower in Q3 than the Australian achieved in Q2, while Norris was 0.523s off his best lap from Q2. Norris even topped Q2 with his 1:14.890, which was 0.812s quicker than Hamilton’s 1:15.702 for his third exit in Q2 since joining Ferrari for the 2025 F1 season.

Failing to reach Q3 in Hungary after Hamilton only qualified P16 for the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend, as well, left the Stevenage-born star in a sour mood. The 104-time F1 record polesitter even claimed Ferrari ‘need to change driver’ given Leclerc took pole on Saturday.

Hamilton noted on Sky Sports F1 (02/08, 16:26): “That was just me, every time. I’m useless. Absolutely useless. The team have no problems, the other car is on pole position. So, they probably need to change driver.”

Fred Vasseur thinks Lewis Hamilton’s out lap cost him in qualifying for the Hungarian GP

But when team principal Vasseur spoke with Sky Italia following the conclusion of qualifying for the Hungarian GP, the Frenchman excused Hamilton for his horrid performance. Instead, the 57-year-old says the Briton’s tyres were not in the right operating window on his out lap.

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“We know that the out lap is crucial,” Vasseur said, via quotes by Formula1.it. “If you lighten the tyres in Turn 1, you risk it at the end of the lap or you slide too much.

“Hamilton went out in Q2, Charles was just a few hundredths of a second away. Lewis was just a few hundredths of a second away, but it’s always difficult to manage the out lap. Of course, he’s frustrated because he only missed the lap in Q2. It’s a shame.

“We have to learn from this. The result is OK, but we can’t rest on our laurels. In the race simulation, we were consistent [and] similar to McLaren. Let’s focus on ourselves, managing the tyres and coming up with a good strategy, and everything will be fine.”

Hamilton will now aim to show a response in the Hungarian GP like he managed last Sunday after his disappointing qualifying for the Belgian GP. After he started from the pit lane at Spa following an engine change, Hamilton finished the Belgian GP in P7 while Leclerc came third.