Fred Vasseur confesses that Ferrari underestimated how much Lewis Hamilton had to adapt when he moved from Mercedes

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has confessed that the Italian team might just have underestimated the task Lewis Hamilton had in front of him when he moved from Mercedes. The 7x F1 champion shocked the world last season when he announced that he would be leaving the German outfit for the Italian marque at the end of the year.

The move represented an alliance between the most successful driver and team in F1, and it was the same fanfare with which Lewis Hamilton was welcomed to Maranello. As soon as the action had begun on the track, things had not gone the way the driver had hoped. He has been comprehensively outperformed by his teammate Charles Leclerc and has continued to struggle adapting to the Ferrari under him.

The frustration reached a point in the Hungarian GP where Lewis Hamilton lashed out in front of the media and claimed that Ferrari should replace the driver.

Talking to F1, Fred Vasseur has admitted that maybe the team underestimated the task in front of Lewis Hamilton as he switched teams after more than a decade. He said, via Motorsport:

"I think perhaps that we underestimate the challenge for Lewis at the beginning of the season. He spent almost 10 years with McLaren and then 10 years with Mercedes – that’s almost 20 years with Mercedes in the same environment."

He added:

"It was a huge change for Lewis in terms of culture, in terms of people around him, in terms of software, in terms of car, in terms of every single topic was a big change, perhaps that we underestimate this, Lewis and myself. But I'm very, very pleased because the last four or five races he was back into the pace."

Lewis Hamilton tells fans not to count him out

Lewis Hamilton was in a despondent mood even after the F1 Hungarian GP was over. The driver was unable to score even a point in the race while his teammate, Charles Leclerc, fought for the win. The driver had, however, mellowed down a little as he pleaded with the fans not to count him out in an impassioned plea as part of the Ferrari debrief.

Hamilton said, via the aforementioned source:

“It’s been a challenging weekend and one to move on from. We weren’t able to make the progress we hoped for but I’m grateful for the effort everyone in the team put in throughout the weekend. Now we head into the break. I’ll be using the time to reset, recharge and come back stronger. I’m not where I want to be yet, but the fight’s not over - don’t count me out.”

Lewis Hamilton will hope for a better run post-summer break, as the driver would first be hoping to break the podium duck with Ferrari.