Fred Vasseur ‘wobbling’ as Ferrari denies ‘heated confrontation’ – reports
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur in the paddock at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix
Ferrari is ‘seriously considering’ replacing Fred Vasseur despite the team principal signing a new multi-year contract earlier this season, it has been claimed.
It comes after the team was forced to deny claims that Vasseur had a ‘heated confrontation’ with a senior engineer at the recent Singapore Grand Prix.
Fred Vasseur under renewed Ferrari threat despite multi-year contract extension?
Ferrari has endured a disappointing F1 2025 season with the team still searching for its first victory of the campaign with six races remaining.
The SF-25 car has been badly hamstrung by a fundamental issue with the car’s ride height, which resulted in the disqualification of new signing Lewis Hamilton at the Chinese Grand Prix in March.
Ferrari has been forced to take a series of measures – including raising the ride height at the cost of performance and instructing Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc to lift and coast on the straights to protect the skid blocks from excessive wear – to manage the problem throughout the season.
Fred Vasseur: Ferrari team principal since 2022
👉 F1 team principals: How long has each team boss been in charge?
👉 How to become an F1 driver: Money, dedication, talent and more
The Scuderia’s poor start to the season led to questions over the future of Vasseur, with rumours at June’s Canadian Grand Prix suggesting that he was at risk of being replaced.
As reported at the time by PlanetF1.com, Ferrari is understood to have made an approach to Christian Horner prior to his sacking by Red Bull in July.
Antonello Coletta, the head of Ferrari’s successful World Endurance Championship operation, was also mentioned as a potential successor to Vasseur, having reportedly turned down the role of Ferrari F1 team boss on a previous occasion.
Ferrari moved to end the uncertainty surrounding Vasseur’s future by handing the Frenchman a new multi-year contract on the eve of the Hungarian Grand Prix, the final race before the summer break.
In a statement issued to PlanetF1.com by Ferrari, chief executive Benedetto Vigna described the new deal reflected the team’s “trust in Fred’s leadership – a trust rooted in shared ambition, mutual expectations and clear responsibility.”
However, it has been claimed that Vasseur’s position is under renewed threat in light of the team’s ongoing woes.
A report by German publication F1 Insider has claimed that Ferrari is ‘apparently’ giving serious thought to replacing Vasseur.
It notes that John Elkann, the Ferrari chairman, could renew his interest in Horner following his recent $100million (£74.2m/€85.1m) settlement to part ways with Red Bull.
However, PlanetF1.com understands that the terms of his Red Bull departure will prevent Horner from pursuing a return to the paddock until the middle of the F1 2026 season, casting serious doubt over an imminent move for the 51-year-old.
The fresh speculation surrounding Vasseur’s position comes after Ferrari was forced to deny reports that the team principal was embroiled in an angry exchange with Matteo Togninalli, Ferrari’s head of trackside engineering, in Singapore.
Italian publication Corriere della Sera reports that Tongninalli’s own position came under scrutiny following the double disqualification of Hamilton and Leclerc in China earlier this season before he regained the trust of deputy team principal Jerome d’Ambrosio and technical boss Loic Serra.
However, with the team’s season still misfiring, the situation has ‘deteriorated’ once more due to tense relations within the team, too many mistakes with setup and car upgrades and the poor execution of race weekends.
Tongninalli, who joined Ferrari in 2005, is described by the Italian edition of Motorsport.com as an engineer with ‘a terrible temper but great expertise.’
More on Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton from PlanetF1.com
Speaking after his contract extension was announced at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Vasseur admitted he was left “really angry” by the destabilising effect the rumours surrounding his future had on the Ferrari team.
He told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport: “Rumours caused the turmoil.
“I didn’t spread them, the media did. Neither Ferrari nor I said anything.
“But today, you can’t avoid this kind of distracting noise.
“I don’t want to tar all journalists with the same brush, but with the internet reporting has become much more aggressive. There is pressure to generate clicks.
“When these rumours first appeared in Canada, I was really angry because they went too far.
“My technical director Loic Serra was accused of not doing a good job, but the 2025 car was practically finished when Loic started working for us.
“The story with Charles Leclerc was similar. Some people regularly wrote that Charles was going to Mercedes.
“No one cared that he repeatedly confirmed he had a long-term contract with Ferrari.
“That has an impact on the team. In Italy, people tend to react more emotionally.
“Without all this noise, my talks with Ferrari would have gone much faster.”
Read next: Christian Horner ‘played a character’ as Susie Wolff breaks silence on Red Bull exit
