‘Higher highs, much lower lows’ – Vasseur faces a different pressure at Ferrari

SEPANG – As Fred Vasseur faced questions about his Ferrari future, Williams team principal James Vowles says the highs are higher at Ferrari, but so too are the lows lower.

Vasseur made headlines during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend when sources indicated to PlanetF1.com that he could be eased out of his role as Ferrari team principal at the end of the F1 2026 season.

James Vowles backs Fred Vasseur amid Ferrari leadership speculation

Although Vasseur re-signed with Ferrari last season, the suggestion was that the 58-year-old would be allowed to step back from the demanding role of Ferrari team principal to either take a different internal position, or split altogether.

Ferrari took the unusual step of holding a media briefing to quell the speculation.

In a hastily-arranged press conference, Ferrari’s chief communication officer Maria Conti insisted the team has “full confidence” in Vasseur.

“In the recent days, there has been increasing speculation surrounding Scuderia Ferrari HP, and particularly dedicated to its leadership,” Conti said.

“Ferrari’s position is clear, has not changed, and Ferrari has made its choices already, and we have full confidence in Fred Vasseur and in his team, and we continue to do so.”

While it wasn’t the norm for Ferrari to comment on rumours, Conti said the team had done so as it didn’t want the distraction of the growing speculation.

“Fred,” she added, “is in his position, and we are confirming his leadership.”

That, though, didn’t put an end to the questions when Vasseur sat down with Flavio Briatore and James Vowles during Friday’s team boss press conference in Sepang.

Asked about Ferrari’s statement, Vowles interrupted to defend the Frenchman’s leadership.

“Normally,” said the Williams team principal, “we beat each other up and put knives in our backs, but Ferrari is in the best place it’s been in the championship for a while.

“They have innovation on the car this year with a rear wing and exhaust blowing that we’ve all copied as a result of it. It’s a team that’s doing brilliantly.

“So, I mean, for me personally, there is no question that Fred is the right person to do this.”

It raises the question; do Ferrari and Vasseur face more intense media pressure than other teams?

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“Obviously it’s difficult because I haven’t been fully in that position, but from what I can read, yes,” said Vowles.

“Fundamentally, I think where it’s different, we all know that, let’s be frank about it, our jobs are on the line. We don’t do a good enough job, that puts us at risk straight away. I think that’s a given.

“You take that when you take the title. But there’s a difference to how you’re celebrated in success and how you’re punished in failure – generally speaking we all are.

“This is very external when I read it, I would say it’s exaggerated more in a way towards Fred, his predecessors in that role. I think it’s much higher highs, much lower lows. That’s how I see it.”

Alpine’s de facto team boss Flavio Briatore also weighed in.

According to the Italian, the media is quick to judge what it sees as failure, but silent when it comes to success.

“The media look like every time you fail, the business is very happy,” he said. “I think so.

“This is unfortunately like that, because we see if you’re doing well, the media is very quiet. The moment you’re doing bad, the media wake up and, “Why? Boom, boom.” So, we need to live with that.

“And sure, it’s much harder for Fred than us, you know, for the amount of articles, because from a media point of view the attention for that is very high as well.”

Going off on a tangent about Franco Colapinto being penalised while Arvid Lindblad was not, despite both crashing into other drivers at a restart in Baku, Briatore added: “We need the media because it’s our business. We need the media, but sometimes we need more friendly media.

“It’s not possible, but we try.”

As for Vasseur, while he concedes he knew this would be part of the job when he joined Ferrari in 2023, he doesn’t appreciate it when the attacks seem personal.

“For sure,” he said, “as James said before, when you take the role, you know the positive and the negative side of the job. I was expecting something like this.

“What is sometimes a bit unfair is when you put someone under the bus, and I’m there also to defend my team, my guys.

“As I said before, when we are winning, we are winning as a team, but when we are struggling, I’m there to defend all of them. I think it’s the right attitude from everybody, from them to defend the team principal, from me to defend them when we are struggling.

“Honestly, I knew what I would get on that. I’m not surprised at all, but sometimes the attacks are a bit personal. It’s not good. We need friendly media.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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