Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur is now facing scrutiny from the Scuderia’s top management after their disappointing start to the 2025 F1 season, as the threat of the sack grows.
The Maranello outfit appointed Vasseur as their team principal back in December 2022 after Mattia Binotto resigned. But how much longer the Frenchman spends in charge is now up in the air, with Ferrari already 197 points from McLaren in the 2025 F1 constructors’ standings.
Just 14 points separated the Scuderia from the Woking outfit last year, as Ferrari missed out on their first constructors’ title since 2008. But Vasseur could not carry that momentum into 2025 and Charles Leclerc plus Lewis Hamilton sit fifth and sixth in the drivers’ championship.
Leclerc and Hamilton are even 92 and 115 points behind McLaren driver Oscar Piastri in the championship standings ahead of this Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix, which is only round 10 of the 2025 F1 season. So, the Ferrari hierarchy are reviewing Vasseur’s future in Maranello.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner is an ‘obsession’ of Ferrari executive chairman John Elkann
That is according to Corriere della Sera, which reports that Ferrari’s results so far this season have been far from the Scuderia’s initial expectations and is leaving Vasseur battling scrutiny from the company’s top management. Ferrari are also now lining up potential replacements.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has also emerged as one of Ferrari’s two top targets to replace Vasseur. Horner is Ferrari executive chairman John Elkann’s ‘old obsession’, so he would welcome the Briton into the Scuderia if the axe were to fall and end Vasseur’s tenure.
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| Position | Constructors’ Standings | Points |
| 1 |
McLaren Racing |
362 |
| 2 |
Scuderia Ferrari |
165 |
| 3 |
Mercedes-AMG Petronas |
159 |
| 4 |
Red Bull Racing |
144 |
Horner has led Red Bull ever since the Austrian energy drinks giant bought the old Jaguar F1 team from Ford in 2005. He became the youngest-ever F1 team principal, too, and has since led the Milton Keynes-based outfit to eight drivers’ titles and six constructors’ titles to date.
Red Bull have even won all 14 of their F1 titles since 2010, with Sebastian Vettel sealing four drivers’ titles from 2010-13 and Max Verstappen matching his feat from 2021-24. Ferrari last won a drivers’ title when Kimi Raikkonen took the 2007 title by a single point over Hamilton.
Christian Horner has already rejected Ferrari as he targets the Alpine team principal job
Elkann will no doubt admire Horner’s record at Red Bull, as the pressure on Vasseur to show why he should stay at Ferrari mounts. Yet Elkann’s ‘obsession’ could have to stay as just that, as Horner has already rejected an approach from Ferrari to replace Vasseur earlier this year.
The 51-year-old is not looking to take over the task of bringing titles back to Maranello with an entire country desperate to see one team succeed. Instead, Horner is flirting with Flavio Briatore about taking over Alpine as the Renault-owned outfit look to replace Oliver Oakes.
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| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Oscar Piastri |
186 |
| 2 |
Lando Norris |
176 |
| 3 |
Max Verstappen |
137 |
| 4 |
George Russell |
111 |
| 5 |
Charles Leclerc |
94 |
| 6 |
Lewis Hamilton |
71 |
| 7 |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli |
48 |
Horner would jump at the chance to switch to Enstone if he were to leave Red Bull, with his own position uncertain, if Renault agreed to give him shares in the Alpine F1 team. Yet he is not their top target, but Steve Nielsen has rejected Briatore’s offer to take charge of Alpine.
Briatore wanted former Renault F1 sporting director Nielsen to quit his consultancy role for Formula 1 and return to Enstone as Alpine’s team principal. Horner is not even their second choice, as there is now a belief that Alpine sporting director Julian Rouse will be promoted.
