Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur reportedly had to intervene on the team radio after Lewis Hamilton shunted his SF-26 during the final practice session for the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring circuit last Saturday.
Hamilton's race engineer, Carlo Santi, asked him five times to park the car on track, but the Briton insisted he could drive it back to the pits. With his advice ignored, Vasseur stepped in on a private radio channel to tell Hamilton that "enough is enough."
F1 journalist Jacky Martens relayed the radio conversation on the Paddock Access podcast. "At some point, we saw that he stopped that car on track," Martens said. "From what I've heard, Fred Vasseur, the Team Principal, went on the radio and said, 'You stop that car right now.' We didn't hear it on the live broadcast. He did it in the end when Fred Vasseur intervened. Otherwise, he wouldn't have done it, because he wasn't listening to his engineer."
Martens also noted that team principals have a button to choose not to broadcast such messages. "I think there are certain rules with that. You can't block everything," he added. The incident added to Hamilton's troubled weekend in Spain.
In Sunday's race, Hamilton was forced to retire after persistent brake issues. He initially insisted he could manage the problem but eventually admitted he could 'barely stop the car' and pitted on Lap 7. His delay in pitting raised questions from commentators.
F1TV commentator David Coulthard questioned Hamilton's insistence on staying out. "He's got a flat-spot. You can see it clearly on the front right. He doesn't make that many mistakes. That car is not functioning normally. Theng why drive past the pit lane? It's the first time here, so maybe he forgot," Coulthard observed. Channel 4's Billy Monger said he felt uncomfortable watching Hamilton stay out with no brakes. "It felt like he almost stayed out a couple of laps too long. I was getting a bit uncomfortable watching it, thinking, if you've got a brake failure and you're staying out on the race track, this could end in tears here," Monger said.
The incidents in FP3 and the race put a spotlight on Ferrari as they strive to recover performance. Vasseur's direct intervention highlights the seriousness of the situation, especially with the risk of a penalty from the stewards if a driver continues with a damaged car. Neither Ferrari nor Hamilton have commented officially on the report.
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