By: Lewis Hamilton’s comments during the Brazilian Grand Prix press conference have poured fuel on a fire already burning fiercely beneath the foundations of Ferrari.
Anyone hoping for talks between Maranello’s two standard-bearers and Frederic Vasseur before the Interlagos race must now accept that not only have they not happened, but the divide has, if anything, grown even deeper.
Hamilton’s words mark a point of no return
The seven-time world champion levelled very serious accusations at his team-mate Charles Leclerc, essentially accusing him of not acting in the team’s interests but only his own, of racing unfairly and of having always done so with all his previous team-mates.
We do not know Leclerc’s view, as he is absent to be close to his newborn daughter Bianca, nor Vasseur’s, who has chosen not to address the matter.
We do know that Hamilton has no intention of backing down or seeking compromise, and is determined to go all the way.
Whatever happens from here, it could mark the end of Ferrari as we know it: this is the “endgame”, the final contest, the reckoning.
Something must inevitably change from here.
Vasseur has shown, as we have also said in these pages, that he either cannot or will not manage this driver pairing with clear directives.
What future can a team principal have in these circumstances?
Hamilton has now embraced a crusade in which he sees himself as the sole driving force behind a radical change at the Scuderia, one in which he wants to be the only central figure.
We do not know whether Ferrari is on his side, or whether the Briton is currently isolated within the team.
In the latter scenario, he would be the next figure heading for the exit, and it would be a bitter departure marked by fierce controversy.
Finally, there is Leclerc, capable of carrying the Prancing Horse on his shoulders, with unquestionable love, through the most difficult moments of recent years. But it is no longer possible to forgive every act of impetuosity and, should Hamilton’s line prevail, he could not remain tied to a team that would effectively have consigned him to the past.
No one steps in to put out the flames
While Hamilton attacks his own team, he shatters the silence of senior management, who do not step in to put out the flames and, like Emperor Nero, play the lyre while Rome burns.
Welcome, then, to the reckoning.
Only time will tell whether it can benefit Ferrari, returning it to where it belongs, or bring about an even more ruinous downfall.
Cover and interior photo by Finlay Williams / WHYOUT Images
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