Fred Vasseur is not the cause of Ferrari’s F1 2025 problems, but his claim there is “more potential” in the SF-25 no longer works.

That’s the opinion of former Ferrari communications chief Roberto Boccafogli, who believes Silverstone would be the deciding factor as the division grows.

Is Fred Vasseur’s Ferrari job on the line?

Following a report in Germany that Ferrari had approached Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, one that PlanetF1.com understands to be accurate, fresh speculation about Vasseur’s future emerged in the build-up to the Canadian Grand Prix.

According to Corriere della Sera, Vasseur’s ‘actions have been put under scrutiny by top management. The French boss has been asked to account for the unsatisfactory performance, his position is no longer so firm, he is accused of knowing little about the internal environment.’

La Gazzetta dello Sport went as far as to put a timeline on Ferrari’s decision, claiming Vasseur had had three races to turn the tide.

It boils down to a simple statement: Ferrari went into the new season predicting championship glory, but are instead fighting for scraps behind McLaren.

While the media has pointed the finger at technical director Loic Serra, new signing Lewis Hamilton and team boss Vasseur, the latter has blamed the media for trying to unsettle Ferrari – even calling out the Italian media.

Boccafogli let rip on that when he spoke on The Race podcast: “We know that what is sometimes strong with other teams can get much stronger for Ferrari. This is a characteristic of Ferrari.

“Ferrari for Italy, especially in Italy, Ferrari is exactly like our Italian team, very close to our Italian football team – even in football, we are not very lucky at the moment

“But Ferrari is simply for everybody in Italy, Ferrari is the national team. That’s why the expectation is so high. The expectation was very high at the start of this season. Yes, it was. But why was it?

“My personal point of view is that after season one and after season two, thanks to the big job done by Fred Vasseur, and I know that I’m talking positively of Vasseur with people who appreciate him.

“For sure, Fred brought something that can help in the way of being a little bit less Italian, little bit less emotive if I can say, just more constructive, much more less emotional and more methodical. And it paid for sure.

“I mean, let’s remember that Fred got in and the car was nowhere, the team was nearly nowhere, and then they won the great race in Singapore by the end of the season. But the end of the season was very good, and Ferrari was close to second position in World Championship. They lost it very, very timely for Mercedes.

“The following season, last year, they won immediately. The big double win in Australia was incredible, Monte Carlo was fantastic, Monza was fantastic. I mean, five wins last year, it was ages that Ferrari was not winning five races in a season.

“I mean, the record after Massa in 2008, if I’m not wrong, it has been six races won I think in 2016 or 2018. It was a great season.

“So expectation was very high.

“If I can say something without saying it so clearly because Fred never said it so clearly, but they gave the feeling that everybody could be very positive.

“Because, of course, the experience got during the first two seasons, the new car, Hamilton getting again, I mean Hamilton was a superstar. When Hamilton was presented in February in Maranello, the emotion here was very, very close of the high peaks of emotion that I lived just with Michael Schumacher times, ages ago – so, I mean, Lewis was very expected.

“And everything was giving authorising to be extremely positive about the season.

“And then the season… the season is absolutely disappointing. The season doesn’t work. We must say it with the proper words, the car doesn’t work.”

Despite small steps, Ferrari have become the target of not just the Italian media, but the World title.

“There were very big criticism from some Italian media, I think also from some foreign media, not only Italian, but the ones who normally or actually give a big, big stress to Ferrari are the Italian right? Because Ferrari is Italian, because Ferraris is a local thing.

“We must never forget that Ferrari is not an English team. It is not that international, but the team it is a very local thing. And from this point of view, yes, the attention was very strong, very, very strong.”

And amidst the criticism, local or otherwise, has come Vasseur’s staunch defence – of himself and the team.

“The words from Fred were very, very strong again, because yes, somebody was criticising him, but the kind of criticism, what’s going on? Why the car is so disappointing, why the situation is so disappointing?” continued Boccafogli.

“We can accept it, we do accept it, but why is it like that? What is not working? What is wrong with the car?

“My personal feeling, very, very personal and with a lot of respect, Fred is the communication figure for Ferrari, because Ferrari didn’t build something of really communication-wise. They have very strong activity as a relationship with the press and so on, but as communication, Fred is the communication of Scuderia.

“He only is talking. He only saying things.

“But since March that at every question, ‘sorry Fred what is wrong?’ The answer is regularly, ‘ah, there is something wrong, but no problem, we are extracting the potential. There is more potential to extract, extract and so on’.

“Yes, it was accepted. Race one, race two, race three or five, and then you won the short race in China. But it was the only point, because the next day they were both disqualified in the long runs. And the crisis got bigger and bigger, heavier and heavier.

“And the question, what is going on, what is going wrong, Fred kept saying, there is a potential, we must be better in extracting it.

“But Leclerc and then Lewis, they started to say, and now very heavily say, no more potential to extract, the car is nowhere, the car is nothing, please let’s think to the next year.”

“The problem is that there is no answer. There is no answer because Fred is not used to explaining things, because he feels he doesn’t need to explain. It is not his job, it isn’t his duty. I mean, he doesn’t feel he’s in the position when somebody helps to explain something, because there is a lot of requests about the real positions and the real answers and not being given.

“In the last one month, there was something so controversial between his words and the drivers’ words, and the situation got very, very, very stiff, now very stiff. Then he got very nervous, because he got to the point on Friday [in Canada] to say, with this kind of press Ferrari will never win. And this makes everybody crazy.

“I mean, so it is our problem? The problem is coming from the media? The media say, not me, because there are people on the paper saying is the media responsible for the Ferrari crisis? Come on.

“Then in this big situation, everybody started asking, is the company still supporting Fred and this Scuderian and the team as they were supporting them, three, four, five months ago?

“Somebody said they are not and then the big weekend of Le Mans came in, because Ferrari incredibly won for a third year in a row, and yesterday somebody said Le Man showed what Ferrari is able to achieve in motorsport when the team is working together.

“And it was not me saying that. It was Mr. John Elkin.

“And John Elkinn is the defender, the official defender, of Fred Vasseur. He’s the man who wanted Fred Vasseur.

“So now the situation is just giving the feeling of giving the feeling of being very, very divided. There is not feeling of unity, working together, but some divisions.

“I really think that Austria and then especially Silverstone will play a major role in what can happen in future.”

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