Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc spent the Formula 1 season complaining about how uncompetitive their Ferrari cars were compared to their championship rivals

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had plenty to complain about with Ferrari and the cars this year (Image: Getty)

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has encouraged drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to criticise the team as they strive to improve. That stance contrasts with Ferrari chairman John Elkann’s view, having previously urged Hamilton and Leclerc “to focus on driving and talk less”.

Vasseur said after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: “I don’t pay attention to the reaction in the TV pen. The most important thing for me is to have a guy coming back to us and pushing the team to do a better job and to work all together to try to get better results.

“The fact that they are emotional sometimes on the radio, and it depends on the guys…all of you know Charles. [He] is always a bit critical with himself first and with the team and with everybody, but it’s always with a positive dynamic. I have known Charles for 10 years, 16 years, and he was always like this; he was always complaining about everything.

“But it’s a positive dynamic that we are there just to do a better job. It doesn’t matter if you are P4, P3 or P1. The DNA is to do a better job.

“I accept this perfectly, and the most important [thing] for me is that they keep the same approach to the debriefing. To try to get a better car, a better team, a better everything, and it’s like this that we will improve.”

Vasseur added: “I would be destroyed if I had the drivers telling me that we are doing a good job. The summary of the season for a driver is to find where we can improve.

The Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur is open to criticism from Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc (Image: Getty)

“Always, that I’m not there to have [drivers telling me] ‘we are doing a good job on this and this and this’. But their DNA and my DNA is to try to push the team to do a better job.

“It means, they have to come to us, Charles and Lewis, when it’s not Lewis, it’s Charles, it’s both of them. They have to come to us and push the team to the limit.

“Everywhere, in every single area and for sure, we can improve, and we can improve everywhere. But last year, we were fighting until the last corner, and the reaction was exactly the same. And Charles said, ‘OK guys, we have to improve on every single area. The simulator, the set-up, the aero’.

“This is the DNA of their job and the DNA of our sport. I’m not shocked at all when they are coming to me and say, Fred, we have to improve on this, this, this, this, this because it’s what we are asking them to do.”