Ferrari chief snaps at reporter over Lewis Hamilton question and issues blunt response about F1 rival

FERRARI chief Fred Vasseur shut down a reporter’s question about Lewis Hamilton following the Japanese Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc earned the Scuderia third and fourth place at the Suzuka Circuit on Sunday.

Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of the seasonGetty

Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur dismissed a question about Hamilton and Carlos SainzAlamy

Hamilton, 39, will replace Sainz at the end of the season as the seven-time champion makes the switch from Mercedes.

That is despite Sainz enjoying his best start to an F1 season, winning in Australia and earning two more podiums.

And Ferrari team principal Vasseur, 55, was quizzed again at the weekend about the decision to get rid of the Spaniard for Hamilton.

However, he was quick to dismiss the question as he simply said: “We have the same question each weekend.

“Do a copy paste of my reply of last week. Next one.”

Hamilton has endured a torrid start to his final season with Mercedes, finishing ninth in Japan to take his points total to just 10 after four races.

Following another disappointing showing, one reporter asked whether the Brit is jealous of Ferrari as they clearly have a quicker car.

To which he replied: “Do you have any better questions?”

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Hamilton then walked off without taking any further questions, but did discuss his car’s performance in another interview.

He said: “The car is never what I hoped it would be. It’s never what we hoped it would be.

“I got some damage I think in the first stint at the restart with Charles [Leclerc] and I had massive understeer, like huge, huge understeer. 

“So that’s why I decided to let George [Russell] by, because he seemed quicker and I just couldn’t turn the car.

“It took us two stints to finally dial more and more wing in to make up for that loss. Last stint, I was better, but it was too late, I had 10 seconds to regain.”

Hamilton’s Mercedes colleague George Russell finished seventh in Japan and now has a 14-point lead over his team-mate.

Next up is the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on April 21.

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Sainz has secured three podiums in four races so far this season[/caption]