When current Ferrari boss recalled tension between Lewis Hamilton and McLaren in his F3 days

Back in 2020, then-Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur recalled Lewis Hamilton's tumultuous relationship with McLaren when the driver was in F3. Vasseur also shared the story of how Hamilton joined the ART GP team for another season in F3.

Back when Lewis Hamilton was still aspiring to be an F1 driver, he was racing in F3 and was also under the McLaren junior program. In 2004, he participated in the Formula 3 Euro Series with Manor Motorsport and secured fifth place in the championship.

Following that season, there was a disagreement between Hamilton's father, Anthony, and Martin Whitmarsh, who was McLaren's CEO back in the day. While Anthony Hamilton wanted his son to be promoted to the GP2 series, Whitmarsh wanted the driver to race another year in F3. The heat between the Hamilton family and Whitmarsh resulted in the latter tearing up Lewis Hamilton's McLaren junior contract.

Once the situation eventually cooled down, Lewis Hamilton re-signed with McLaren. He also agreed to race another year in F3.

Speaking on Beyond the Grid podcast in 2020, Frederic Vasseur shared the story of how Martin Whitmarsh contacted him about Lewis Hamilton wanting to join the ART GP team for 2005's F3 season. Vasseur also touched on Hamilton's rough relationship with McLaren and praised him for how he handled it at such a young age.

"We had a discussion with Lewis and [Martin Whitmarsh said] he [Lewis] would like to drive with you next year. It was a tough relationship with McLaren at his stage on some topics," Vasseur said.

"But I think it was part of the process also for Lewis to have this kind of confrontation with McLaren. I think it was the right approach for him to take (a) decision to manage this kind of situation. And it was a good way to be much more mature, quite early," he added.

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Fred Vasseur on Lewis Hamilton's broader job description at Ferrari

Frederic Vasseur recently talked about how Lewis Hamilton would bring a lot more to Ferrari than just his driving skills.

Before the 2024 F1 season began, Lewis Hamilton announced that he would leave Mercedes after 2024 and join Ferrari. This announcement was quite shocking to the F1 fanbase since Hamilton remained with Mercedes for nearly 12 years and bagged six of his seven world championships with them.

In an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com, Vasseur explained how the job of an F1 driver is much wider than just arriving at a race weekend and performing their best on the track.

"The input of Lewis or another driver is not just about qualification lap time and so on. It's the finality of the job. What we all collectively can see Saturday or Sunday - at the end of the day, the job of the driver is much wider," Vasseur said.

He added that a driver's work with the team starts several months before the season starts. A driver and his team brainstorm about the next project, and the driver gives valuable feedback based on his own experiences.

"It's starting sometimes six or eight months before the season, to be able to work on the next project, to bring his own experience, his own view on what we can do, or how we could do it and so on and so on," he added.

Lewis Hamilton currently races for Mercedes and is eighth in the drivers' standings, with only 35 points.