"If we don’t have it, we are dead": Lewis Hamilton's boss Fred Vasseur on key ingredient that Ferrari needs to win titles

Lewis Hamilton's boss, Fred Vasseur, feels that the key ingredient that Ferrari needs to win titles is the DNA of trying to do better than what it did in the past. The Italian team is arguably in the best possible position to challenge for a title in a long time. In terms of technical brilliance, things are in place.

In terms of drivers, in Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, the team has the best lineup on the grid. And finally, in terms of a lack of external interference, Vasseur has more or less made sure that the team ends up in a strong enough position where Ferrari is not run from the boardroom.

The 2024 F1 season was one of the better examples for the Italian team, where unlike what tended to happen in the past, the team did not implode when things went wrong in terms of car development. This helped Vasseur and Ferrari to ultimately challenge for the title in 2024 and be in contention even in the last race of the season.

Talking to the media, including PlanetF1, when questioned about what particular area Ferrari needed to work on to win titles, Fred Vasseur pointed out that the team had to focus on being better everywhere as that was the DNA the team needed to win. He said:

“Honestly, I don’t know, because I think it would be a mistake to think that there is one thing. If you want to do a good job, you have to be focused on every single pillar of the performance, on every single area, on reliability. It’s true for every single part of the car. It means that we have to improve everywhere.

But I don’t want to do the list, because if I start to do the list, I think… I don’t want to finger point someone or a group, but I think on every single area and every single department of the company, we just have to do a better job."

Vasseur added:

“And this is not a criticism. It’s just that it has to be the mindset of the team that we have to come each morning to try to do a better job than yesterday, and to try to improve what we are doing, hundredths of seconds by hundredths of seconds. But this mindset is the DNA of our sport, and if we don’t have it, we are dead."

The team started the 2024 season decently as the second fastest car only behind Red Bull.

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Ferrari has to do a better job than 2024

Ferrari did have a strong 2024 F1 season. However, the Miami upgrade from McLaren helped the British team leapfrog the Italian, and the team's major upgrade in Barcelona also set it back.

It was only in the second half of the season that Ferrari found its bearings and started winning again. That was also what helped the team take the constructors championship battle to the last race of the season. Expanding on the thought of making improvements everywhere, Fred Vasseur said until the team is first, he would continue to push for improvements. He said (via PlanetF1):

“That means that I will continue to push, I will continue to push all the employees to first, to be convinced that they are all a performance contributor, every single level, and that on every single area, we have to do a better job than 2024.”

The Italian team comes into 2025 with the aim of challenging for both titles and with Lewis Hamilton onboard, there aren't any excuses anymore.