Fred Vasseur says Ferrari had to act after a week of rumours about his future

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur said Ferrari “had to act” to end a week of rumours about his future that grew louder after the Baku weekend, amid renewed public attention triggered by comments from former Red Bull chief Christian Horner. Vasseur acknowledged that the Ferrari role comes with constant scrutiny, but argued that the tone in recent coverage went beyond normal pressure, at times becoming “a bit personal.”

According to Vasseur, the pace of speculation accelerated after Horner suggested he would “welcome” a role with the Maranello-based team. In the wake of those comments, reports circulated that Vasseur could be under pressure and that Horner might be considered as a potential successor, prompting Ferrari to address the situation ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Bahrain weekend in Malaysia.

Vasseur said Ferrari dampened the speculation through a media call before the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, with the company’s top leadership clearly backing him. He said the team made clear he had the full support of Ferrari Chairman John Elkann and Chief Executive Officer Benedetto Vigna, framing the message as necessary to prevent the same kind of noise carrying into the race weekend.

During the same period, Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton also publicly backed Vasseur. Leclerc said the conversation about Vasseur was “not nice” and “disrespectful,” while Hamilton described Vasseur as a “fantastic leader” and indicated that the Ferrari structure could still be improved, without specifying what changes he had in mind.

On Friday in Sepang, Vasseur faced questions at a press conference that also included Alpine’s Flavio Briatore and Williams’ James Vowles, and he was asked why Ferrari believed a media call was necessary. Vasseur replied that the wider issue was the sustained “noise and all the rumours in the press,” arguing that the team needed to work in “serenity” rather than have questions consume attention throughout the weekend. He said the statement was “mandatory” because otherwise it could have been “the same this weekend.”

Vasseur also addressed Hamilton’s comments about potential structural improvement. He said that while evolution is part of any team, finger-pointing would be a mistake. He described recruitment and organisational development as an ongoing process—citing the idea that individual team recruitment is “a [never-ending] story”—and said Ferrari must continue to improve through both good and difficult phases rather than treating any period of success as a final end point.

When further pressed on whether changes were needed below him, Vasseur pointed to the existing relationship with his senior leadership, emphasizing a close working dynamic with both Benedetto Vigna and John Elkann. He said he is in daily contact with them and “can’t complain” about the organisation. At the same time, he said everyone on the grid wants to do more—particularly in recruitment and development—but insisted he viewed this as separate from any notion that the leadership structure itself required upheaval.

Reflecting on the personal dimension of the scrutiny, Vasseur said he understood the broader positive and negative aspects of the role when he took the position. He added that he sees part of his job as defending his team and staff when results are strong and especially when they are not. He said the intention is to ensure that, in challenging moments, everyone is protected from being reduced to “single individual” narratives.

Ultimately, Vasseur concluded that while he expected high attention as Team Principal, it was “sometimes a bit unfair” for attacks to become personal. He said such an approach is not good for the environment around the team and argued that unity—consistent with his message that “we are winning as a team”—is the correct response to speculation.