Lewis Hamilton claims that speculation over Fred Vasseur's future with Ferrari is being fuelled from above.

While the extension of his contract as team principal appeared to settle talk of the firing of the Frenchman, the media, infuriated by the fact that Italy's national F1 team is losing out to Mercedes, has continued rocking the boat.

Things weren't helped last week when Christian Horner claimed that his dream would be to manage the Maranello outfit.

Once again, the media kicked into gear, and a half-hearted response from Lewis Hamilton when asked about Vasseur only poured fuel on the fire.

On Tuesday, Ferrari insisted that it has "confidence" in Vasseur, though the nature of the announcement suggested otherwise. As opposed to an official statement from senior management, such as chairman John Elkann, or CEO Benedetto Vigna, the Italian team's head of communications held a video press conference.

Today, in Sepang, the seven-time world champion was far more forthright, throwing his support behind Vasseur, whilst claiming that the current unrest is being fuelled by those further up the management chain.

"Ultimately, it's not a one-man operation," the Briton told reporters. "If you want to point fingers, point them somewhere else. There are lot of people above that also are a part of it.

"If you want to take something from this message, Fred's in his position, he's not going anywhere and I'm here to stay with him," he added. "And I still believe fully in where we're going.

"There often seems to be a lot of focus on one individual in one role here. And you can see that, obviously, they've switched out lots of different people in Fred's role. But Fred is a fantastic leader. He really is the guy to take his team in the right direction.

"However, there is a structure that's been there for some time. Whether or not that needs looking at moving forward, there are obviously also people above Fred, and it's not about one person.

"Fred has led the team to... he's helped make changes in this past year, he's helped us get to the second in the Constructors' Championship. That's a huge step from last year."

Seemingly aware of the team's history, far less its structure, Hamilton was asked if Ferrari would be better suited having someone at the helm, like Toto Wolff at Mercedes, with a financial stake in the team.

"There are changes that I would make," Hamilton replied, "but I'm not going to talk about what those are. Toto's in a different position to Fred. The structure's a lot different. That's all I can say."

As part of the onslaught, some sections of the media have suggested that Hamilton himself is responsible for the unrest within the team, which is claimed to have been divided into various factions. That said, the main criticism from the media is the fact that Ferrari isn't winning.

"For me, it's frustrating to see all the negativity," said the Briton. "Because you see other people making mistakes, and they don't normally say too much about them.

"We either make the same mistake, or are not perfect and it's ten times worse for some reason for Ferrari, but that's also to be expected. Given that it's the best brand here, it's the most iconic by far. For me, I don't read a lot, so that has zero effect on me. But of course, when I come into the room and see...

"It definitely affects individuals on the team," he continued. "Because every weekend they try and show up and do the best job they can, and they don't get it right all the time. Families are messaging you for all the negative things that they're reading when the people back at the factory are reading all those things, even though they're giving their all. It's almost like sometimes you feel like there's nothing you can do right, even when you're giving your all.

"For me, the message is to not read any of the stuff that's being written, because the fact is, nobody that's writing any of the stuff has actually any clue what they're talking about, because they're not in the team. They don't know what's happening behind closed doors. They don't know how hard everybody's working. It's all down to assumptions and opinions.

"Fred's been fantastic working with me and I think our relationship as a whole, even with our bosses, is in a better place than it ever was," he insisted. "Fred's made a lot of changes I've asked for already. I think it's not an easy time for Fred so I think it's good that the team came out with that earlier this week. I've also let him know I support him 100%.

"I wouldn't be here without Fred. Swapping him out won't change how the team moves forwards. It would be detrimental to it."

"I think to manage people, which is exactly what you've got to be good at when you are a team principal," added teammate Charles Leclerc. "He knows what are the words to be used and what are the conditions that someone needs to be put into in order to extract the maximum out of an individual.

"I've always said how much I trust Fred and how important he is for the team," he added. "We have a very special relationship. He's been extremely valuable so far and he will be extremely valuable in the years to come as well.

"There was never any doubt inside the team that he has all of our support. Sometimes it's needed to make it clear to the outside world as well.

"I just wish that sometimes there were less of these silly rumours going around," sighed the Monegasque. "I took off everything that is social media, so I don't see much of what's going on around.

"Many people from the team know what's going around and that is not good for the serenity of the team for sure," he admitted. "This is something that we have little control over and we've got to maximise our results. I don't think it does any good, that's for sure.

"We're all trying to do our best. Fred, the first, and all of us inside the team, we are pushing ourselves to the limit, and I find it a little bit disrespectful to see so many rumours.

"It's part of our job to take criticism, but when you spread these kinds of things over and over, I think at one point it's just not so respectful."