Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has defended Lewis Hamilton’s poor form in qualifying ahead of his move to the Italian outfit next year. Hamilton has lagged behind George Russell in qualifying this season but has fared better in races with two Grand Prix victories to his name.

Russell has outqualified Hamilton on 10 occasions, with the seven-time world champion only beating his Mercedes team-mate in four sessions. He has also struggled to claim pole positions, achieving just one since the ground effect regulations were introduced in 2022.

Hamilton will go up against a qualifying specialist in Charles Leclerc when he swaps Mercedes for Ferrari next season. Vasseur is not too worried about his one-lap pace, though, with the Ferrari boss insisting that he makes up for it by climbing up the order during races.

“Since the beginning of the year everyone has been saying that Russell is faster than Hamilton, but at the moment Hamilton has scored more points for Mercedes,” Vasseur told Sky Italy.

“I think he is a good benchmark in terms of efficiency. We know the positive aspects of Hamilton’s arrival, including his great experience in F1.”

Hamilton, who holds the record for the most pole positions with 104, has also failed to make it through to the final part of qualifying on two occasions. Russell, meanwhile, has reached Q3 at every race apart from the Belgian Grand Prix where he was knocked out in Q1.

Quizzed on his sub-par displays against the clock before the Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton admitted that it was one of several areas he was looking to improve with Mercedes yet to reach their full potential across the board.

“I wouldn’t say it’s not been a priority but the whole weekend has been the priority, to improve everywhere, but particularly since the end of last year and then all this year has been pretty bad on a Saturday,” he said.

“It is what it is and I’ll continue to work at it. So far I haven’t got it to a great place but there’s plenty of races left to sort that out. There is plenty of time to iron out all the creases, in my performance and in the car.

“I’m not getting too hung up on it. My race performance is still pretty decent, so fortunately I can kind of fall back on that for now.”