Fred Vasseur dismisses allegations that Ferrari divided their strategy during the Spanish Grand Prix to differentiate between their drivers.

Nonetheless, queries arose once more at last weekend's Spanish GP, where Hamilton qualified fourth, just ahead of Leclerc in fifth. At the race's start, however, the drivers adopted markedly different tire strategies, with Hamilton on softs and Leclerc on hard tires.

Vasseur was questioned about the decision to diverge the strategies between Ferrari's drivers, but he dismissed any implication that it was intended to keep them apart during the race.

“Take a look. [Lando] Norris, [Oscar] Piastri did the same. [George] Russell, [Kimi] Antonelli did the same. [Max] Verstappen, [Liam] Lawson did the same,” he stated to reporters after Sunday’s race. “I don't believe they [McLaren] were concerned about a collision between Norris and Piastri.”

During the race, Hamilton experienced a braking issue early on, which prevented him from maximizing the potential of his soft tires—ultimately leading to his retirement from the grand prix after just a few laps.

Charles Leclerc held out hope for a late safety car in Madrid

Meanwhile, Leclerc continued on his hard tires, hoping for a late safety car that would allow him a convenient pit stop. He stated that this was the optimal strategy for the team after a disappointing qualifying session at the Madring.

"We had various options, but I believe the best choice for us today was what we executed,” he remarked. “If I were to race again, I would do the exact same thing. Starting on the soft tires wouldn't have allowed me to achieve anything extraordinary.

“I would have ended up on the same strategy as the drivers ahead of me and wouldn't have been very beneficial since there were no overtakes. Thus, the hard-soft strategy was the right call, and waiting for the safety car at the end was also the correct approach. Unfortunately, it never arrived.”

Additional reporting by Roberto Chinchero and Cihangir Perperik.