Motorsport Week Editor Jack Oliver Smith looks at the current situation at Ferrari and what it could mean for the future of its team boss Fred Vasseur.
Fred Vasseur was sat in Ferrari’s hospitality after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as he often does, to face the media. His scarlet red cars had endured an underwhelming race in Baku, with Charles Leclerc fourth and Lewis Hamilton sixth.
The Scuderia has enjoyed a far better 2026 than it did 2025. With two wins – one each for Hamilton and Leclerc – and second in the Constructors’ Championship, its nightmarish ‘25, that saw Hamilton’s fanfare-laden move to the Prancing Horse fall flat on its hooves, feel a long way away.
However, after being Mercedes’ only genuine challenger for much of the first half of the season, it now seems that no matter how much it huffs and puffs, it cannot blow the Silver Arrows away. And in fact, there isn’t even a guarantee on a race weekend that it will be ahead of McLaren and Red Bull, both of which making significant strides from its starting position this season.
But that isn’t just why Vasseur was present in a somewhat ominous atmosphere.
Once again, his future at the helm of F1’s greatest and oldest team is the subject of speculation from the media, and in Baku, the elephant in the room shapeshifted into the form of a man easily recognisable. Diminutive in height, but big and bold in personality; a tidy haircut, a signet ring on his pinky, and up until last summer, often spotted in a Red Bull shirt.
Yep, you guessed it.
Horner – a no-brainer?
Christian Horner is on a media tour at the moment amid the release of his autobiography Drive. In it, he supposedly has some choice remarks for both Helmut Marko and Adrian Newey, but with just under a month until release date, the most we have to go on is what he says in the here and the now. And in an interview with The Times, he describes being Team Principal of Ferrari as his “dream” job.
This feels, in some way, a contradiction, given he has rejected the job once before. The recollections of many historically record that it always appeared Ferrari wanted Horner more than Horner wanted them.
Now, you could cynically suggest that Horner is now only saying this as other avenues back into F1 have, in reality, been cul-de-sacs, but regardless of the allegations, accusations and controversies, Horner is more a benefit and a hindrance for any team willing to take him on. Box office Netflix fodder, Horner marshalled the forces of Red Bull from midfield no-hopers to World Champions, and when was the last time Ferrari had that status?
The irony is, though, that this may just be a herring as red as one of its cars.
Vasseur and Hamilton – a souring relationship?
Vasseur, predictably, was asked about Horner’s comments, to which, and to whom, he gave the shortest of shrift.
“But it is what it is, it’s not in my hands. Mr Horner is looking for a job – that everybody knows – everywhere,” he said.
“What can I do? Just try to do my best to push the team, to rise them to be motivated, focus on what is better today. Each interview, 25 times a day, we are coming back to this.”
Can you blame Vasseur for being fed-up? He took over Ferrari in 2023 from Mattia Binotto, and within two years, came painstakingly close to a Constructors’ Championship, which would have been its first in 16 years. Admittedly, 2025 was a tumultuous campaign, and speculation rose as to whether he would be axed, and after launching a fiery tirade in Canada, he was handed an extension.
I would be very intrigued to know whether Vasseur would have remained in the post then had it not been for Hamilton and Leclerc, two drivers who hold him in the highest regard. Not only was Leclerc driving for Vasseur at Alfa Romeo, but also oversaw ART in Hamilton’s victorious 2006 GP2 campaign. They defended Vasseur, and Leclerc’s influence within Maranello cannot be underestimated. Hamilton also alluded to having Vasseur’s ear when it came to pushing for the changes within Ferrari he felt he needed to feel more comfortable there.
Now, there are whispers the relationship between the seven-time World Champion and his Team Principal is not quite as cordial as it used to be.
I highly doubt that, frankly, but wouldn’t surprise me that, within the higher echelons of Maranello, some consideration is being made about Vasseur’s future.
What can Ferrari do to get back on a winning track?
There is fresh word on the street that Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s Hypercar boss, is being considered. This was a baseless rumour once before, and it is my understanding that is still the case. Whilst Coletta is not off the radar entirely, it is considered that he is not the primary candidate to replace Vasseur.
Neither is Horner, as far as I’m aware, and unless there is a certain outcome that rules him out of involvement in the eventual purchaser of Alpine’s much-coveted Otro Capital stake, that will remain so. If there is a net that has been cast, then I’d love to know whose names have landed in it, and I’d predict there isn’t anyone around at the moment who would be any more of a galvaniser as Vasseur.
The conversation should really go back to Hamilton’s previous intimations of “begging” Vasseur to make changes within. I’ve written before that Hamilton must use his considerable clout as one of the best of all-time to exercise a Michael Schumacher-style influential overhaul of the team, and that starts with a personnel wish list. And if Leclerc had any sense, he’d agree. Some think he’s overrated, some think he’s a generational talent, wasted by years of underperforming machinery and many instances of illogical strategic omnishambles. Either way, he’d be closer to a championship if things were to change.
If Hamilton and Vasseur aren’t on the best of terms at the moment, I wouldn’t believe that relationship’s stability to be terminal. Who knows what culturally-related obstacles they need to overcome to get Ferrari onto a winning path, and I’m sure their visions are aligned. Maybe, of course, there is a possibility that Vasseur is the one who has had enough, and will throw a spanner into the works by quitting of his own accord.
Again, could you really blame him? But in either case, only time will tell, but that time is running if they want to twist rather than stick.
It feels like that one day sooner than later, there will need to be a moment where Ferrari must see that the key to winning may be to relinquish some of its team’s principles to its Team Principal.
I’m often taken back to the quote attributed to Gerhard Berger who, apparently talking of Ferrari and Maranello said: “Stand outside it and you wonder why they don’t win every race; stand inside and you wonder how they manage to win any!”
READ MORE – Ferrari issues firm Fred Vasseur statement amid Christian Horner speculation
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