Former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya has explained why Fred Vasseur will not be able to control Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari.

Last weekend, Hamilton and Charles Leclerc clashed during a tense Mexico City Grand Prix, with the Briton unimpressed with his teammate’s aggressive driving in the opening lap.

Leclerc, who started third, got a fantastic launch and was challenging pole sitter Hamilton in the first few corners. At Turn 4, the Monegasque went long and ended up cutting the corner to take the lead, while Hamilton dropped to third.

Hamilton’s frustration was notable during and after the race, when he called out Leclerc’s mentality. The pair, along with team boss Vasseur, have since held clear-the-air talks ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Juan Pablo Montoya Reacts to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc Saga

Speaking to AS this week, ex-F1 driver Montoya, who was driving for McLaren when Hamilton was a test driver for the team, stated that Vasseur does not have the power to control Hamilton as Toto Wolff did at Mercedes.

He said: “The thing is, we don’t see what goes on in internal meetings. So, how can you judge Fred without knowing what he’s actually doing? From the outside, you’d say, or assume, that, yes, he needs to be tougher. But it would be very unfair to say that about Fred without knowing how he operates internally.

“You don’t know internally whether Fred is actually the one in charge at that moment, or whether someone else is handling it, someone higher up, or something like that, because remember that at Ferrari it doesn’t stop with Fred. At Ferrari, it goes much higher up.

“Because, for me, Fred is the principal, but you look at Fred as someone like Bradley [Lord] at Mercedes, who’s the deputy team principal.

From the outside, you don’t see Fred as the sole decision-maker. I reckon that if Fred wanted to do something really big, he’d have to say, ‘Listen, I’ll call the people at Ferrari, I can do this.’ Whereas Toto doesn’t have to do that.”

What did Fred Vasseur say about his meeting with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc?

On Friday, ahead of FP1 and FP2, it was claimed that the trio had a meeting to clear the air after a tense week.

As reported by Sky Sports, Vasseur stated that there will not be a hierarchy in the team, with both drivers reminded that they are representing the Ferrari brand.

He said: “We did it [talked] yesterday evening because I had to fly back to Europe between the two races, but it went well. It was good to discuss, good to clarify my position and their position - that it was good to do.

“Now we turn the page and we are focused on the next one. The guidelines is still the same. They accumulated perhaps a bit of frustration because they are starting each weekend side by side, and you have a kind of accumulation of fact.

“But at the end of the day, the guideline is always the same - it's that they need to respect each other.”