Hamilton vs Leclerc: Who's Destroying Ferrari?

0:00What are you gonna do tonight? Let it be, what you're actually doing tonight Let it be, what you're actually doing tonight Take it away, Jordan Come on, come on, let's go Pop it down, all go out of it It's easy, doing all the whole life We have all good people It's climbing off on the road, patchy go It's about 5-4 out of 10 when you get in Ferrari, Lewis and Charles aren't boys anymore They are men

1:01I'm sorry, one of them is doing a really rubbish Schumacher impression Really pointing fingers Lewis and public, that ain't it One Ferrari in the gravel, the other in the barriers and now the argument has reached the boss's office What a lovely homecoming lad because Lewis finished Ferrari's home race pointing responsibility directly at Fred Versa And if you want something that is akin to the Schumacher era Publicly dressing down your team boss is not the way to go or if you're really being generous it's a very ballsy opening move, rather unorthodox But here's what makes all of this interesting though and I do have to get the spanner out just a little bit here I think that maybe what Hamilton is trying to do is maybe allow Fred Versa to have the authority to make maybe bolder opening calls him pleading to Ferrari's bosses to give Fred the authority to be able to do what he needs to do But at the same time, the way that Lewis is going about it might make Fred's position harder to defend

2:01As in, he's trying to help out his mate he's actually ending up not helping his mate or making things even more precarious That's what I want to talk about today folks Is Lewis trying to get Fred out of the way or is he trying to get Fred to allow him to move Charles out of the way and that doesn't mean that Lewis gets off Scott free here because he may end up being accountable for it himself later if he chooses not to comply with it so it's not all sunshine and roses for him Let's just say that this is a very major side effect of having two titans of the motorsporting world and the same garage, you know These two men are pretty influential And Ferrari thought it might work since Fred knows these two He worked with Hamilton during his TP2 year in 2006 and round-sourable when the Clare arrived in F1 in 2018 And that familiarity, that was supposed to help this pairing work but understanding their personalities it doesn't really settle whose ambitions come first because these are men now with careers not juniors trying to get their way into the top tier of motorsport

3:03Also, Charles didn't spend years establishing himself at Ferrari as Il Poudeste in Arto to become a supporting character when Hamilton walked through the door And equally, Lewis didn't just step into the Ferrari garage for the sake of it to spend his twilight years wearing red and thinking, oh this is a nice little novelty I didn't expect to have and one thing is for sure, neither of them are prepared to be the footnote in the other's comeback story and that little fracar resulted in a absolutely disastrous home race A second-row lockout became sixth place and a retirement for the Clare at the Parabolica for the second time in six years And their first chicane encounter that was enough to make any Sim race a win because this is turn one at Monza this is not an open lobby guys come on, you're better than that And as for the Clare's crash later on in the race I mean, one that later, that is its own separate argument but at the same time, Lewis doesn't really have the grounds to be judged during an execution in all of this And yes, I will hold up my British passport

4:05and admit that I do have some sympathy towards Lewis' frustration but I will put it right back down again because Charles does get to have his say too Lewis's old flame, Nico Rosberg, blamed Le Clare for the first chicane encounter while his Sky Sports colleague Martin Brumble disagreed pointing to Hamilton's entry and Charles's position through the second corner and when Charles said we went too far the we did include Lewis, so sorry Team LH Chuck was lumping your man in there too and it wasn't a clear cut battle with the pumbits either and yes, the parabolic incident, that is a separate question he even described a difference in power delivery between the opening laps now I don't know whether that explains the accident or established that Hamilton rattled him into the wall but at least his engine is okay for Madrid that suspected 60G crash it was only 23G then it's still a pretty major wallop but at least his engine might make it through Madrid there's still a little bit of a question mark there remember the cracked gear box of Monaco 2021

5:05and also Hamilton's recovery drive from 9th place to 6th place it's not a case of, oh Ferrari simply ruined it and also him not coming in during the virtual safety car either because even Hamilton has gone on to admit that he doesn't really see any scenario where changing his tyres would have actually resulted in a higher place anyway or even a home podium and let's be real, he also admitted and Fred admitted that their rivals were just simply quicker even Max Verstappen was quicker than Hamilton on the day and Versa did then go on to admit that just maintaining track position was better because overtaking was very difficult for the team and I can easily imagine that many of the Tophosi are absolutely cringing at that because Monza's meant to be a place where you can overtake more easily than at some other circuits and this also had the brand new ADO2 engine in it and yet according to Fred it was still hard for them to overtake and besides overtaking cars that really doesn't settle the Ferrari debate now does it

6:05but where Fred definitely holds responsibility is how he's able to convey to the drivers what they can expect from one another because Hamilton was criticising the rules and engagement for the fact that well according to him there weren't any and he said that the buck starts with the team principal and then came the championship question asked about priority Lewis said well it's too late for that now while the boss defended why one hadn't been chosen that's the disagreement with the teeth right there he wanted Lewis earlier commitment to Ferrari's strongest championship chance which just so happened to be himself there's your culture clash the attraction of building around a leading driver against the commitment to giving both a chance now this feels familiar but we'll get to that in a moment in any case the fight going on right now is over when a quality gives the way to priority and you want to know who the boss was citing regarding his idea of maintaining equality for as long as possible it was only in the Clarence Championship efforts last year and many of you are probably just tearing your hair out of the idea that

7:07papaya rules could maybe now lead to Ferrari Corsa rules or Russell rules but yeah I know you can learn from a rival but you can't just take lock stock and barrel the principal of papaya rules and just give them a whole liquor paint because this is Ferrari and besides keeping both your drivers in the hunt in the championship race does not mean that you've sorted out the incident in that singular race remember all of the stuff that we're talking about around Zandvord the dilly dallying regarding team orders and when to let drivers through because that ended up nobling both the Clare's and Hamilton's races I've already gone on about it in previous videos yet it seemed that monster from Zandvord they didn't learn a thing when their immediate situation is coming to conflict as in they meet on track yet they have different strategies there has to be a call made so here's a question I'd like to leave for you in the comment should Ferrari prioritize the current championship contender or should they indeed keep their options open as long as possible until it becomes mathematically impractical to maintain equality

8:09and please don't just back Lewis or Charles because they're your respective boys I really want to know the hard facts as in what you really think about this from an objective point of view because if you don't do that that's just leading to tribalism and tribalism these days is just really no good for anyone it just means that your comments won't really count for much dalt as the lesh and Ferrari already knows the shortcomings of the small print because as I pointed out in my previous video there is Baku Charles that Lewis threw so Hamilton could use his tyre advantage to attack ahead when it didn't work Ferrari asked for the position back but the returns what wasn't completed before the finish line Hamilton acknowledging a misjudgment and Peser accepted that explanation it was to them a botched instruction but that doesn't establish though that Lewis deliberately refused to obey as many of suppose but in still imagine your Charles and you cross the line in that moment you expect two points but then you're like what the hell you can't offer a temporary sacrifice Ferrari and then discover the receipt says they're all the same

9:10but one thing Fred I just have to tell you is that asking a driver to move over to help out the consequences of a singular race does not equate to it being a be-all-and-endal regarding their championship prospects they're not the same thing and Ferrari needs to be clear what it exactly wants in that moment back in the days of Jean-Ton when he told rumours let Michael pass for the championship Rubens please instead Fred can go if you just let Lewis win the race that will help him out in that moment but we are still beating in your championship as in they just need to clarify it and I think they might get a little bit more compliance because if they don't do that the driver's going to be thinking all the time am I yielding right now just to help him the moment or does this mean I am now officially the number two Ferrari driver and I don't think Charles knowing Fred since the days of Saba will give him any reassurance in any of that and by the way if you're enjoying these really gritty and awkward details do drop down a subscribe and maybe consider out my Patreon

10:13since it does keep the ladder down and me up it all starting at a buck limp below because now we're going to be talking about their cabinets because you see Lewis has described organizational proposals and meetings involving Fred the Sir, the chairman John Elkin and chief executive Benabetto Vignia these discussions going back as far as last year and whilst I don't like the idea of management meddling with the racing efforts of Ferrari something that ends a Ferrari load and kept very distant for six decades Lewis does have a way to argue for change at the top with Monza another result to point at and I think this might actually give his arguments some legs because let's not forget yeah Kimi Antonelli and Italian won the race the first Italian to do so in 60 years but Ferrari they held the majority of the fans hearts there and they saw their team make an absolute full of themselves so Lewis in his discussions with Elkin and Vignia and the Sir he gave his arguments I think a major shot in the arm

11:15to just point to Shaw and say well look at all of this I did my thing I was fighting for position I wanted to try and get back at the Mercedes but look at all of this or what happened all because my boy Fred doesn't have the authority to do what he really wants to do now okay we do have to bring in the Spanertime because indeed the consequences of these meetings might be temporarily beneficial for Fred because it might give him the just cause to maybe think about the championship after all it might just give him that little bit more umf he wouldn't have to keep protecting both drivers opportunities all the time in every waking moment he could also just point at the management to say well I don't make the news this is a Ferrari championship policy it's got nothing to do with that personal opinion this is just coming from the top and all of this being said with two people that he knows really really well from when they were boys and maybe this is what Hamilton wants as well just a little bit of clarity but consider what that could mean Hamilton could want his old boss empowered to make the calls he believes Ferrari keeps postponing

12:17I think Lewis hasn't gone about this the right way by naming Fred publicly it's put him under the spotlight with the seven time champion demanding improvement overtly and trying to strengthen your team principle can also make him vulnerable when the chairman may start to ask more probing questions and let's just say Hamilton's caused more PR fires to spread with this outburst yet Fred can't hide behind the reunion story either because Hamilton is designed for the likes of Dior and he has his own plethora of philanthropic ventures in multiple avenues including Sten meanwhile you've got the likes of Sean LeClaire setting up his own clothing collection then there's a Ferrari clothing collection as well as him having his own ice cream business and sponsoring eight sleep mattresses and stuff like that let's just say that these men they are involved with things outside of the garage they are known as influencers and they're alright and they have plenty of influence tens of millions of followers who just wait on their back and call and their wins and wants

13:17and Sean finds himself in a business where telling people to cool down has suddenly become really really profitable and delicious maybe Ferrari might actually want to partake in some samples of his and yes for some of you me talking about that outside ventures might make your hair curl there's got nothing to do with only the one but I'm just trying to say that Fred him thinking that he can treat these two exactly the same as he did when they were rookies that's just not possible anymore these two men are business men they are very shrewd men they are very calculating men they are very wary men these are men they have to give multiple assurances to to make sure they are not being screwed over Fred could easily say well don't worry I know how to handle him well I would love to see how you'll be able to handle them the moment he decides to disappoint them in public and the overt reaction that their fans might be giving him I mean it could go really really far and this might be a bit of a side effect that Ferrari didn't really account for when they signed on Lewis in the first place because yeah you can get millions and millions of likes and more interest in your company by putting Lewis in that car

14:22especially finding out that old barn finder that F40 that just so happened to have a chassis number 44 I'm not engine number 44 sorry but equally it also comes with a lot of scrutiny and it eyeballs on every single thing you do you really think about that now did you this it's it's an unfortunate side effect for ari and besides familiarity that's not made the competitive efforts of both of these men suddenly disappear as in oh I can't do that because I know Fred he's my guy no we don't get any of that right now the former mentor is being challenged by the established champion and the long term driver there's a little bit of Vader and Obi-Wan and all of that but let's hope this version ends with a more productive debris because Lewis asking for decisive leadership creates an obligation of his own suppose Ferrari agrees a keyer is sporting policy and Charles has a stronger opportunity in a moment when it next applies and Hamilton's told to make the sacrifice Fred doing what Lewis asked for now in that sense Lewis has to like it and lump it he doesn't even have to publicly go oh yes absolutely boss

15:23I'm gonna do he can grumble all he likes over the radio but he still has to do it he has to comply or else his entire argument over these last few months is all for naught it would be venturing into hypocrisy territory and the same applies to the clear when Hamilton has the stronger case if there are rules for engagement they have to be followed by both of them and Ferrari's history gives us a very useful reminder about how to very influential people and ones that are very very involved in Ferrari's own emotional story can make it work remember all the stuff with Felipe Maassan and Kimi Reikonen in 2007 and 2008 when both men respectively were in the Hunt for the championship the other acquiesce and help them out Massa with Reikonen in 2007 and Reikonen with Massa in 2008 these two men were mighty and in 08 Reikonen was the champion and he just bent over backwards and was like I'm gonna help out my body for later it's not skin off my nose okay these were very ambitious men especially Felipe in 2008 against Lewis Hamilton

16:28it just showed that they could put their own differences aside and think of the team and this was not long after Michael Schumacher retired from the sport and he was still involved in Ferrari affairs in very in degrees either at the garage or still being called upon as a consultant Michael was still around the Ferrari Opus fear at the time and it proved very very workable but the question might end up being when one opportunity takes precedence and Fred might have waited a little bit too long for that but equally Lewis shouldn't accept poor management forever to prove that he's a team player and neither should show but Montes' miserable result doesn't prove that prioritising Hamilton earlier would have prevented it Experience earns Lewis a hearing but it doesn't mean he can take credit for all of this if he wants something like the Schumacher model the test will be whether his proposed changes make the whole team stronger and if he can keep his misgivings going forward private and not on rely on public outcry to get his own way

17:29and this is where the Elkhan and senior leadership become really crucial they can back a justified sporting decision even when a driver objects or they can turn every objection into yet another negotiation if there is proper change will Fred be able to settle things down on his own smooth things over and everything's hunky-dory are we going to get every single argument being punted up to Vignia and Elkhan and us just having yet another round of negotiations and yet more speculation as to whether or not Fred's job is safe and yes I know he's got a contract extension next year but this is Ferrari yeah the Ferrari, Ferrari, Contrax, Ferrari which is why I am really careful regarding anything to do with Fred's job because the race recently reported senior dissatisfaction with Montes' optics and raised whether it could trigger a review of his position now that doesn't establish that a review has begun and if they do wind up with a new name on the office door many reckon it might be Ferrari's wet chief or even Christian Horner the team still will have two drivers expecting their ambitions to be heard

18:31right now Ferrari needs to decide how much authority the TP actually has to be able to think about Ferrari's own prospects instead of having to temper the wins and wants of their own drivers because if they have not been able to ascertain a thing and they drop Fred then congratulations are Scuderia you've just provided yet another repeat because whoever takes charge will then just have to inherit the same old problem Madrid might be able to give us an explanation as to if anything has changed since Montser but having said that though even though Lewis thinks that he has been heard and Ferrari had been receptive he doesn't really expect any major change to occur until after the likes of Madrid so think around ironically Baku so I think the best thing to do is just watch for what happens when there might be another situation that we saw around here and of course around the likes of Zunbord and then Miami last year and then Baku last year when team orders have to come into play and the drivers might be contemplating their own future

19:31are they the number one or number two? No, Ferrari's trying their best with Viser and charge to make sure that no you are both number one but maybe with Ferrari that just doesn't work that model Fred, sorry it's just not transferable what are my thoughts on all of this? Well I think Lewis has earned the right to make himself heard but he has definitely not earned the right to get cart blanche around the Scuderia he can't expect everything that he wants right now it's just not possible or feasible and Fred also needs to show that he can commit to helping out both drivers without having to make a decision about either of them and then when it comes to orders where Charles definitely has to yield he has to be given credible terms in that he is willing to let things through to ensure that he is not being trodden over and for Lewis he just might have to accept that sometimes Charles might be the stronger driver but he ain't personal Lewis and if he finds that unacceptable Lewis then all of his calls for change will suddenly metamorphose into basically him just wanting personal priority as any he just wants it his way

20:34he doesn't want real change at Ferrari and there's shared paths with Fred won't settle any of this I think and knowing them from when they were boys is not the same as leading them when they are men Hamilton's pressure could give Fred the backing to make a harder choice yeah but it might also leave him carrying the blame if that choice fails so asking Fred to lead has to include accepting where he takes you even when the car he waves through belongs to your teammate now I'm publicly aiming my finger over here to this video which I know you will enjoy I'll go and freshen myself up and I'll be right with you Thanks for listening to my ladder ramblings if you liked what you heard do be sure to leave a five-star rating on your podcasting platform of choice I really do appreciate it and until the next time I traverse the ladder I hope you have a pleasant day goodbye