“Will work on car to adapt to Lewis Hamilton”: Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur responds to Briton’s 'alien' comment

Weeks after struggling with his Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton ended with an impressive fifth position at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The seven-time champion was dejected after qualifying ninth in Bahrain and called his new car an “alien,” but things seem to be slowly falling into place now. Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has now said that both Hamilton and the team at Ferrari will have to move a step closer to the car in order to make things right and align it with what Hamilton wants.
Responding to Lewis Hamilton’s frustration with his new car, Fred Vasseur said, as per Motorsport Week, “You won’t replace 12 years of collaboration in two weeks or in two races. That means that for sure we need to improve, but I think this is true for everybody in the team, in the paddock, that we have the DNA for our sport is to try to do a better job, and I think it’s good to have Lewis with this mindset to say, ‘OK, I have to improve also myself and to adapt myself to the car.’”
“We will work on the car to adapt the car to Lewis, but he also has to take a step. And I think this, between us, is done in a positive way and a very constructive way,” he added.
Lewis is yet to settle into his new car after spending more than a decade at Mercedes. He finished 10th at the Australian Grand Prix, won the F1 Sprint in China, but was disqualified from the main race due to excessive skid block wear. In Japan, he again couldn’t do better than finishing seventh in the race. His fifth position in the Bahrain race is the best he has been able to achieve so far this season.

A dejected Hamilton had told the media in Bahrain, including RacingNews365, “It just feels so alien. It really does feel so alien. Sometimes I think we all get stuck in our ways, and very stuck, like, no, I need to keep driving the way I've been driving. Just make the car come to me. But that's not working.”
He also expressed his wish to adjust with the new car. “So I am adjusting myself now to the car, and also the way with the tools that they use—it just drives so much differently. With all the ECU controls that we use, I have to use them a lot differently to what I had last [at Mercedes],” he said.
Also Read: Lewis Hamilton gets Ferrari’s steering wheel to resemble the one at Mercedes
It is to be noted that soon after his switch to Ferrari, Hamilton had the design of his steering wheel customized to resemble the one he was used to at Mercedes. Minor changes were also made to the clutch and gearbox to suit his needs. The 40-year-old will now be competing at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.