Vasseur on leading Ferrari through turbulent times: "My job is to isolate the team"

With its fluctuating fortunes and intense scrutiny, Ferrari is never a particularly low-profile place to work. But rewind the clock 12 months and the Italian Formula 1 outfit was going through one of its most difficult periods in recent years.

The honeymoon period that followed Fred Vasseur's landmark Lewis Hamilton signing proved short-lived, as the seven-time world champion's sprint win in China turned out to be a false dawn. It papered over deeper issues with the organisation and with Hamilton's integration into an all-new environment. An outlier in an otherwise troubled campaign that rocked Maranello.

With Ferrari undergoing massive internal changes, including a long-awaited new technical director in Loic Serra, such a transition would generally not raise too many eyebrows at most teams on the grid, especially ahead of a huge rules shift for 2026 that provided a unique opportunity to make systemic changes.

But Ferrari isn't just another team on the grid and similarly to football juggernauts such as Real Madrid and Barcelona, the term ‘transitional season’ simply does not exist. If the Scuderia doesn't perform, the knives are out in the Italian press, amplifying the noise from the groaning tifosi wondering when Ferrari will finally reconnect with the glory days gone by.

Ferrari has been waiting for two decades for a successor to Kimi Raikkonen and even longer for the type of dominant dynasty that erased 20 lean years between the Niki Lauda - Jody Scheckter era in the 70s and Michael Schumacher's unprecedented success, turning the German into a demigod in the country.

But when McLaren proved out of reach early on last year, Vasseur made the rational decision to stop aero development of the 2025 car and shift all efforts to 2026.

F1's most successful outfit has not won a drivers' title since 2007

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Amid an extremely tight field, that decision was a painful short-term sacrifice and it led exactly to the sort of transitional season that drew so much criticism in Italy, with Ferrari eventually slumping to fourth in the standings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Vasseur's own future at the team was questioned after only two and a half seasons at its helm.

Prominent Italian publications launched stories questioning the future of both Vasseur and other key members, who had to read in the morning papers that Ferrari was set to recruit someone for their existing position. There were also growing concerns over Hamilton's performance slump and slow adaptation to Maranello, with Vasseur the key driver behind the decision to bring in the Briton to replace Carlos Sainz.

Vasseur held a passionate plea for the media to stop undermining the team's efforts, and he received backing from various corners, including his counterparts Toto Wolff, Zak Brown and Christian Horner, then still at Red Bull.

"My job is to isolate the team from the fans and to let the team work in the best conditions" Fred Vasseur

Ferrari's top management ultimately calmed things down by offering Vasseur a fresh, multi-year deal at the end of July. But while the thick-skinned Frenchman always maintained he was mainly concerned for the well-being of his staff rather than himself, it is clear the 2025 campaign was character building for all involved.

Reflecting on the episode with Autosport, Vasseur admitted it was "psychologically difficult" for Ferrari to turn up every weekend without any significant car upgrades.

"In the team it's always much more peaceful than sometimes from the outside, but it's true that one year ago the situation on the sporting side was difficult," Vasseur recalled. "We had a mega difficult Zandvoort with a double DNF and a penalty for Lewis for Monza. That was the worst situation.

Hamilton made a blockbuster move to Ferrari in 2025, but it took until 2026 for him to win a grand prix at the team

Photo by: Clive Rose / Formula 1 via Getty Images

"Last year we made a decision. It was not an easy one because when you focus the team on the development of the next year's car, you know also that you won't bring development during 16 races. That's a challenge. It's psychologically difficult to go to 16 races without development.

"But we knew why we were doing this and why we made this choice. And I think on the chassis we started the 2026 season in a very good direction, so it's paying off this year for sure."

Vasseur experienced first-hand why the top job at Ferrari is often considered one of the hardest positions in sports. But the 58-year-old knew what he signed up for when he joined for the start of 2023. And if it's he who is on the receiving end of caustic criticism, then that's okay, he says, because that's damage that doesn't have to be absorbed by the people under him.

"My job is to isolate the team from the fans," Vasseur explained. "And to let the team work in the best conditions."

At best, Ferrari's strong start to the new regulation cycle has vindicated Vasseur's decision making and restored some sense of calm around the team. At worst, it has at least bought him more time to execute his vision and complete his reforms.

"I think that when we win the race, we have the support from everybody. When we have a difficult weekend, it's a bit different," Vasseur replies impishly, bursting into a hearty chuckle at his own dry wit.

"But it is like it is, we have to be focused on internal topics, on internal discussions."

Ferrari has been the closest challenger to Mercedes in 2026

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Ferrari has been lauded for its innovative 2026 car design, including influential exhaust and rear wing designs that have since been copied, which he called a "good reward" for his designers.

That's the result of an intense push by Vasseur to stamp out any remnants of a risk-averse blame culture. "It's true that from day one I had the feeling that we have to take more risks," Vasseur explained.

"More risk on track, more risk on the innovation, on the development to take a different direction compared to the others, not to follow the others. I think we need to develop this mentality because then you will improve in the risk assessment. You will improve in the capacity to make decisions."

While Ferrari's SF-26 challenger proved competitive in recent races on high-downforce circuits, its home race at the cathedral of speed may actually be one of its weaker races, even with an upgraded power unit that should slash its V6 horsepower deficit by 30 to 40 percent

But fresh strategy and race execution concerns at the most recent Dutch Grand Prix suggest Vasseur is right to say that Ferrari is only as good as its last race, as he is keenly aware that "if you want to be champion, you can't leave points on the table". There's still plenty of work ahead to tackle every lingering weakness in the system.

Vasseur's Ferrari will be heavily stress tested over the next three months, then, when F1 holds at least 10 more grands prix in 14 weeks - 11 in the unlikely scenario it somehow salvages Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

As Autosport suggests that the interview feels like the quiet before the storm ahead of the Scuderia's frantic homecoming in Monza, Vasseur quips back: "Yes, but not the storm next week. It's the storm until the end of the year [chuckles again].

Ferrari was criticised for its execution in Zandvoort, where it failed to finish on the podium

Photo by: Eric Le Galliot

"I think that we have something like 11 races in 14 weeks or whatever. It's much more demanding for everybody in the team, also in terms of the stock of parts, so it means that it's until the end it would be difficult. But it's true that Monza is a special one."

While Ferrari's SF-26 challenger proved competitive in recent races on high-downforce circuits, its home race at the cathedral of speed may actually be one of its weaker races, even with an upgraded power unit that should slash its V6 horsepower deficit by 30 to 40 percent.

But Vasseur was upbeat about the team's chances to stay in the fight until the end.

"The pace was strong in Zandvoort. We didn't win the race, but the pace was there," he said. "It means that it's a much better preparation. It's true also that the weakness is a bit different. If we have a deficit today, it is more on the power unit side, and Monza is the most demanding race of the season in terms of the engine.”

"We know that we are not going into the easiest part of the year, but let's see," he added. "The strategy is that we will continue to push until the end [with upgrades]. We have no issue with the cost cap, we are following the plan and will continue like this."

Trailing leader Mercedes by 87 points, and heading a resurgent McLaren, Ferrari is now in the thick of the fight, rather than the powerless, passive bystander it was 12 months ago. That has made a world of difference for the mood around the team. But Ferrari remains a unique entity, so it won't take much headwind for a new disturbance in the Italian force to emerge.

F1 heads to Monza this weekend

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