Ferrari organised an unprecedented media call this morning to express support for their under-pressure team principal Fred Vasseur – a display of solidarity that would seem to shut the door on Christian Horner taking over Formula One’s most famous marque, at least for now.
In the wake of speculation over Vasseur’s future, and Horner’s potential interest in succeeding him, an email went out to journalists alerting them to the online meeting at 25 minutes’ notice.
The call was conducted in English, with another similar online conference planned for Italian media.
Ferrari’s chief communications officer Maria Conti led the conversation, saying to a group of some 15 reporters: ‘Ferrari want to end speculation over the leadership of the team.
‘I am officially saying that Ferrari has made its choices and has full confidence in Fred Vasseur and his team. Nothing has changed. So that’s it.’
It remains the case that Vasseur has failed to deliver the results chairman John Elkann would have wished for, never getting close to a world championship despite paying Lewis Hamilton £80million-a-year to race for them.
Christian Horner, pictured alongside wife Geri, was sacked by Red Bull last year
Vasseur is also widely condemned within the organisation for failing to learn more than a few words of Italian, instead speaking in English, or his native French, since taking over as Scuderia boss in 2023.
As Daily Mail Sport revealed on Monday, the 58-year-old is also believed to have health problems – relating to his heart and the stress of the job. Furthermore, his elevation to such a senior status in the sport remains scarcely believable given his limp years as Alfa Romeo boss, where he won exactly nothing. They were at the back of the field year after year.
Indeed, some in the sport disparage him as ‘Championship Manager’ – good in lower formulae (which he most certainly was as a team boss there, not least helping nurture Hamilton) but out of his depth at the top level.
Horner, who was sacked by Red Bull in an £80million settlement last year, has been touted as a successor to Vasseur. He has never publicly sought the role and has never looked to undermine the incumbent, Vasseur.
But he is well aware of Ferrari’s allure and said in The Times last week: ‘At this stage in my life, there’s only one team for which I would accept non-participation in ownership.
‘Would I consider Ferrari? I mean, Ferrari is the biggest brand in Formula One. It’s the dream. And arguably it’s the sleeping giant of Formula One.’
Beware, here. Nothing at Maranello is quite as it reads on the tin. In 2022, the team issued a gushing statement that Mattia Binotto would remain in post as team principal, and it is understood Elkann assured the Ferrari lifer of that exact thing to his face or over the phone. A few weeks later, Binotto was gone.
