Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur dismissed doubts raised by Lewis Hamilton’s former teammate and rival Nico Rosberg, who expressed concern about the seven-time champion’s recent qualifying performances.

After qualifying sixth for the Italian GP at Monza, Hamilton expressed his frustration by acknowledging that he was “not very good at qualifying”. He further stated that he couldn’t piece together a lap, a feeling he described as “unbelievably frustrating.”

Nico Rosberg, the 2016 F1 world champion, referred to Lewis Hamilton’s comments in an interview with Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur. With the 39-year-old set to join the Italian team next season, Rosberg asked Vasseur whether he was concerned about Hamilton’s poor qualifying form.

Lewis Hamilton and Fred Vasseur (Both Images via Getty)

“Fred, I also need to ask you something for next year. Lewis Hamilton is joining your team. He said yesterday after qualifying, he is not qualifying well anymore. He doesn’t know how to qualify well anymore. Are you worried for that?” Rosberg said on Sky Sports F1.

Fred Vasseur firmly stated that he was not concerned about Hamilton’s single-lap pace, citing the Mercedes driver’s impressive race pace, and recent victory at the Belgian GP. Vasseur implied that he would rather take a victory on Sunday, than a pole position.

“No, because he won in Spa. I will take the win at the end of the race more than the pole position,” the Frenchman said.

After 16 rounds in the 2024 F1 season, the head-to-head qualifying record at Mercedes stands in George Russell’s favor. He has out-qualified Lewis Hamilton on 12 occasions this season.

The veteran Mercedes driver occupies sixth place in the driver’s standings with 164 points, while Russell occupies eighth place with 128 points in the bag.

What did “furious” Lewis Hamilton say after Monza qualifying?

The fight for the pole position at the Italian GP came down to the wire in the Q3 session, with the McLaren drivers locking out the front row. The top five qualifiers were separated by just 0.150 seconds, with George Russell qualifying third ahead of both Ferrari drivers.

Lewis Hamilton expressed his frustration post-session after missing out on pole position, as his final lap time was 0.186 seconds slower than polesitter Lando Norris. Hamilton reckoned he lost all the time on the first chicane, or else he would have been on the front row with a tidy lap.

“I’m just not very good at qualifying… I clearly have [got bad]. I can’t put a lap together at the moment and it’s unbelievably frustrating,” he told Sky Sports.

“I’m furious. Furious. I could have been pole, I could have been… at least on the front row, and I just didn’t do the job in the end. I lost a tenth and a half into Turn 1, or through Turn 1 and 2, and I lost another tenth in the last corner, so there’s no one to blame but myself and it’s… Qualifying has been my weakness for a minute now, and I can’t figure it out. I’ll keep trying,” he added.

Starting sixth on the grid, Lewis Hamilton took home a fifth-place result, 22 seconds behind race winner Charles Leclerc.