Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur recently insisted that Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc “left my room joking together” following a private meeting in Brazil to clear the air. But 1996 Formula 1 champion Damon Hill is not buying the sudden harmony at Maranello.
According to Hill, the Scuderia is actively masking a rift. Analysing the fallout from the recent triple-header, Hill pointed to a growing divide behind the scenes at Ferrari. He believes that, rather than working as a unified front, the team is splitting its loyalties.
“We need to settle this in the team because there’s a political problem in that team,” Hill stated, speaking with Sky Sports F1. “For me, it seems like there’s factions within the team that are shooting for one side or the other.”
The psychological turnaround
This friction is being catalysed by Hamilton’s return to his race-winning form in 2026. When the seven-time champion initially signed with the Italian outfit, sceptics questioned his motivation after he had endured years of uncompetitive machinery and lingering trauma from the 2021 championship decider.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
Hill highlighted that exact psychological journey, acknowledging how deeply the loss impacted the British driver before his current revival.
“He’s been crushed since Abu Dhabi, in effect, in 2021,” Hill observed.
Instead of treating his move to Ferrari as a retirement tour, Hamilton has used the change of scenery to completely reset his competitive edge.
“He’s performed incredibly well this year, much better than I thought, considering I thought it was going to be very difficult, but he’s rebuilt himself,” Hill concluded.
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