Lewis Hamilton's boss has two key instructions for Ferrari staff at Italian Grand Prix

Fred Vasseur has explained that his staff need to 'support and push' marquee signing Lewis Hamilton when he is struggling. The seven-time world champion's boss described him as 'emotional', which can have both a positive and negative impact on his performances depending on current form. Heading into Hamilton's first taste of the Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari, the onus is on the legendary Brit to turn his form around.

He was eliminated from Q1 in both the sprint shootout and Grand Prix qualifying in Belgium, finished 12th in Hungary before the summer break, and crashed out in Zandvoort last weekend. Despite the tricky run, Hamilton's spirits remain high. He arrived on the Dutch coast with a new outlook and approach to race weekends, and, buoyed by the infectious support of the Tifosi in Monza, he appeared refreshed and ready for the Italian GP on Thursday.

Hamilton's stint in Maranello can't be a success without the support of the team, though. When asked about the 40-year-old's ability to motivate, team principal Vasseur explained: "This, for sure. But he is also emotional. It means that it's also [on] us to support him when he is struggling, and we also need to push him when he is struggling.

"Spa and Budapest were difficult for him, but he can be sure that he has the full support of everybody at Maranello to recover, to be back. I'm really convinced that he will do it, and we have to be supportive with him on every single day, and I will be supportive every single day with Lewis."

While Hamilton's results since joining Ferrari have been up and down, Vasseur believes that the seven-time world champion's presence within the Prancing Horse's garage has benefited team-mate Charles Leclerc.

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The Monegasque racer has extracted the maximum available from the car at nearly every opportunity in 2025, registering five podiums, a surprise pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and out-scoring Hamilton by 42 points over the first 15 races of the year.

"Probably, yes [Hamilton's presence helped]," he explained. "I'm clear that this has helped Charles a little bit as well, to release some pressure from Charles, and he did a very good job from the beginning of the season.

"I think Charles has also improved on the approach, on the structure, he's more mature, and this, I don't know if a part of the contribution of Lewis, but it's coming from the maturity of Charles."