Overview
- Hamilton wrote on Instagram that he has “never asked for anyone on my team to be replaced,” a denial published on Thursday and repeated across major outlets.
- The claim came from Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, which reported that Hamilton had pressed team principal Fred Vasseur to change trackside and operational staff and that their relationship had cooled.
- Ferrari and Vasseur have publicly sought to downplay talk of internal turmoil and said they held constructive discussions with Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc to sort the matters between them.
- Hamilton’s title bid lost momentum after a brake failure forced his retirement in Madrid, leaving him about 101 points behind the championship leader and reducing immediate pressure for dramatic personnel moves.
- The episode highlights ongoing scrutiny of Ferrari’s weekend execution and strategy after recent errors, building on on-track incidents at Monza and radio complaints at Zandvoort and earlier personnel tweaks this year such as race engineer reassignments and new hires.