Ferrari leave Brazil empty‑handed as Vasseur’s praise narrows in on Leclerc
Ferrari walked out of Interlagos with two battered SF-25s, no points, and one pointed takeaway from Fred Vasseur: “at least from Charles’ side” the car had pace. It was hardly a subtle line, and it summed up a weekend where the positives lived almost exclusively on one side of the garage.
Leclerc was the reference. He qualified third, launched well, and was running P3 when his race was ended by somebody else’s mess. Oscar Piastri lunged at Kimi Antonelli, they touched, and Antonelli’s wheel flicked into Leclerc’s Ferrari. The impact tore the front-left from the rim and compromised the suspension. Brutal. Nothing the Monegasque could do.
Hamilton’s Sunday unravelled earlier and uglier. Starting 13th, he slid backwards off the line to 17th, then clashed with Franco Colapinto in the early skirmishes. The stewards pinned that one on Hamilton and handed him a five‑second penalty. By then, the damage was already telling. He shed a front wing, limped on, served the penalty, and Ferrari ultimately parked the car with severe floor harm.
“When you are last and you are missing 35 or 40 points of downforce, I’m not sure it makes sense to risk the engine,” Vasseur said after the race, explaining why Ferrari called Hamilton in early. The headline figure was clear enough: the car was wounded, and there was no realistic recovery on the cards.
It was the Scuderia’s third non‑score of the season, joining the double disqualification in China and the double retirement at Zandvoort on the pain index. But Vasseur, ever the pragmatist, sifted for something to build on.
“Unfortunately, with Charles we were the victims of contact between other cars, and it was quite a hard one for him,” he said. “He had a good start and was in the right position. I think we had good pace today; we were in the fight and not too far off the others. I can’t complain about the pace this weekend, at least from Charles’ side. He did an excellent job.” Asked to name the takeaways, he pointed to that P3 in qualifying and Leclerc’s launch off the line: “That’s what we’ll build on.”
The optics are what they are. All of Ferrari’s post‑race warmth centred on Leclerc. Hamilton’s day was compromised from Turn 1 chaos onward, and the pace comparison—limited as it was—didn’t offer many consolations. There’s no great conspiracy in that, just the reality of a split weekend where one car showed its teeth and the other spent most of its afternoon off the leash.
Still, the timing of the “at least” line is awkward. Hamilton arrived on a multi‑year deal with eyes wide open and a big red target painted on 2026. He’s said repeatedly he believes in the long game, and on Sunday he leaned into that message again. “We’re really having to fight through hardships at the moment,” he said. “I have to believe these hardships lead to something. I truly still believe in this team and what we can achieve together. I just have to keep pushing and keep giving them everything I can.”
Ferrari’s patience isn’t the story yet, but the standings are. The team has slipped to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, now behind McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes. In a fight that dictates prize money as much as pride, Hamilton’s deficit to Leclerc—66 points—has weight. That gap isn’t all on the Briton, not in a season that’s already served up a DSQ double and a Dutch disaster, but it does colour the balance of contributions across the garage.
The technical side will point to encouraging flashes. The car was live in qualifying trim, Leclerc’s race pace before the hit looked genuine, and Interlagos often magnifies weaknesses—tyre management, drag levels, damage sensitivity—that don’t necessarily translate everywhere. But Ferrari need clean weekends now. They need both cars in play on Sundays, not just proof of concept on Saturday.
Vasseur knows it. The drivers know it. And the calendar doesn’t care. The next rounds will say more about whether Brazil was an aberration or a signpost. Leclerc’s speed suggests there’s something to harvest. Hamilton’s mantra suggests he’s ready to keep swinging through the rough days to get there.
For Ferrari, the brief is simple: turn “at least” into “both.”
