Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur has launched an explosive response to rumours regarding his future with the Formula 1 giants, describing the situation as “stupid”.
The Frenchman has been the subject of much speculation this week, which suggested that his job is on the line due to the team’s start to the season, in which, despite being second in the Constructors’ Championship, it is 197 points adrift of McLaren, and without a victory.
Ferrari has, in its recent history, seen a succession of Team Principals come and go, having not won a World Championship of any kind since 2008.
The pressure for the team to succeed comes with, for the boss at the helm, huge responsibility to oversee a new dawn of success, which in turn sees them placed under the media microscope, particularly back in its Italian heartland.
And ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, Vasseur did not make a blanket accusation against every facet of Italy’s press, but reserved harsh words for some.
“First, I have to stay calm because I will have to [report] to the stewards,” he told media including Motorsport Week. “It’s some Italian media. It’s not all Italian media. It’s not about myself, I think, because this, I can manage.
“It’s more about the people of the team. To throw their name like this, I think it’s just disrespectful for them, for the family.
“We had the case last year with the chief of aero, Loic [Serra]. I don’t know the target. I don’t understand the target. Perhaps it’s to give s**t to the team, but in this case, I don’t see the point. Perhaps it’s for them the only way to exist. This is probably more the reason, but it’s really hurting the team.
“At one stage, it’s a lack of focus. When you are fighting for the championship, every single detail makes a difference. From the beginning of the weekend, we are just thinking about this.
“If it’s their target to put the team in this situation, they reached their goal, but I think it’s not like this that we’ll be able to win a championship, and at least not with this kind of journalists around us.”
Vasseur understands the pressure but urges Italian media to ‘consider’ rammifications
Vasseur was quick to point out that he is only too aware of the brief of being a Ferrari Team Principal, and that championships are paramount to his long-term future.
When asked if such forensic media scrutiny comes with the territory of being Ferrari boss, Vasseur was stern in his reply, fiercely defending the team’s personnel, and accusing the Italian media’s apparent harsh treatment of being harmful to their families.
“No, but to be the Team Principal, I knew when I joined, when I took the position that you are exposed, this I think it’s quite easy to manage,” he said. “It’s more for the people of the team.
“They are working very hard, to decide one day that this one will be replaced, this one will be replaced, this one is useless.
“Honestly, it’s very, very harsh because these journalists, I’m not putting everybody in the same basket, but they have to consider that these people, they have family, they have wives, they have kids, and this is completely unrespectful. Now I don’t want to speak anymore about this stupid.”
Leclerc’s firm commitment an indication of a ‘very good’ mood inside the team
In the days leading up to this weekend’s race, both drivers, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, have both been firmly positive in their feelings towards Vasseur.
Despite his own struggles since joining the team, Hamilton, who drove for Vasseur in his title-winning GP2 campaign in 2006, said he had belief that Vasseur is “the person” to take the team forward.
And Vasseur cited Leclerc’s apparent commitment to the team as proof that, from this perspective at least, there is harmony within the ranks of the Maranello-based squad.
“I think Charles has a long-term contract with us,” he said. “Each single interview from the beginning of the season, he’s telling that he wants to stay with Ferrari, he wants to win with Ferrari, his future is with Ferrari.
“But every single Monday, we have articles telling that Charles will go next year. At one stage, I don’t know what we have to do.
“I’m sorry, and I can’t repeat every single weekend the same thing. But it is like it is. Now, with Lewis and Charles, I think we have a good relationship altogether.
“We have a clear target, we know that we have to work, we know that we have to push. But the mood in the team is very good. It’s the basics if you want to recover and to win.
“But everything is there, everything is on the table to do a good job.”
When asked if there was anything he could do to protect the team in his role as Team Principal, Vasseur continued to blast the media, and called for “respect”.
“Yeah, I’m going on Monday morning to see the guys and to say, ‘guys, it’s not true.’ But I’m not a fireman at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s just a matter of respect. We are fully open, at least them.
“But if someone has to ask a question about recruitment or whatever, either I would say, no, I can’t speak, or yes. In this case, I would have said, no way. Because the person that we are speaking about last year, I had to Google the name of the guy to see the face of the guy.
“We are at this point now that they are able to spread a rumour about someone that I never met in my life.
“But consider that we are speaking about people, we are not speaking about things. But I think everybody needs to have a bit of respect.”
READ MORE – How Lewis Hamilton has ‘surprised’ Charles Leclerc inside and outside the car at Ferrari
