Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur, shared his opinion on the Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc tam order debacle from the recently concluded Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Speaking about the incident, the Prancing Horse boss said that it was a judgement from Hamilton's end.
The 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw a miscommunication between the two Ferrari racers as Hamilton failed to comprehend the team order. During the final stages of the race, team asked Hamilton to let Leclerc pass so that he could attack the drivers ahead.
However, the seven-time world champion failed to respond in time, and as an outcome, Leclerc finished behind him in the race. Vasseur, speaking about how the miscommunication turned out, said:
“I think the situation was clear for us that Lewis had a tyre advantage and we asked Charles to let him go to try to overtake Lawson and Tsunoda or Norris,” he said as he explained why Ferrari initially ordered Leclerc to let Hamilton by.
“On the top, Charles had the issue with the recovery and we are not at the top of the engine and that, I think, was the best option for us to do this move. We asked to swap back and it looks like Lewis had a misjudgment on the position of the start and finish line.”
Charles Leclerc kicked off the race from P10 after crashing in Q3 of the qualifying on Saturday, and went on to finish the race in P9. On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton started the race from P12 and improved significantly to come home in P8. Max Verstappen won the race ahead of George Russel and Carlos Sainz.