Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur says Hamilton is 'frustrated, not demotivated'

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has said Lewis Hamilton is frustrated but not demotivated, following the seven-time champion’s frustrating comments over Hungarian Grand Prix performance.

Hamilton on Saturday said he felt ‘useless’ and suggested Ferrari ‘probably need to change driver,’ after qualifying 12th, with his teammate Charles Leclerc clinching pole position.

The British driver repeated Saturday's performance on Sunday as well, and said he was still feeling ‘the same’.

Vasseur was asked if he had a plan to motivate Hamilton during summer break, to which Ferrari’s team principal replied that he did not need to motivate him.

"I don't need to motivate him. Honestly, he's frustrated, but not demotivated. You know, it's a completely different story,” Vasseur said.

"I can perfectly understand the situation. Sometimes you are making comments on what the driver is saying in the car, but if you put the microphone on some other sportsmen in football and so, I'm not sure that it would be much better.

"They are in the performance, and sometimes they are making comments, even when they jump out of the car. I can understand the frustration, but we are all frustrated. And sometimes if you ask me, I can't say this, I will go to the stewards [for swearing]!”

Vasseur said that he understands the frustration from Lewis Hamilton and admitted that it's a tough situation when your teammate is in pole position and you are out in Q2.

"It's always been a good motivation for him. The main reason of performance. For sure, when you are a seven-time world champion and your teammate is in pole position, and you are out in Q2, it's tough; it's a tough situation,” Vasseur continued.

"But we can also have a deep look, he was in front of Charles in Q1, on the first set; he was one-tenth off in Q2. We are not far away to have the two cars out in Q2.

"And the outcome of this is Charles at the end is able to do the pole position, but it's not ... Honestly, the gap was not 1.2 seconds yesterday. But I can understand the frustration from Lewis. This is normal."