Fred Vasseur still hasn’t followed one clear instruction from Ferrari’s ‘top management’ as contract expiry nears

Fred Vasseur is coming under growing pressure at Ferrari. The decision-makers at the Italian brand are deeply disappointed by how the F1 team have performed in 2025.

Ferrari’s clear goal was to win the world championship after finishing just 14 points behind McLaren last year. Charles Leclerc targeted his first drivers’ title, while the signing of megastar Lewis Hamilton naturally ratcheted expectations and scrutiny up further.

It may be excessive to describe this year as a disaster – Ferrari are still second in the constructors’ – but it’s not far short. It’s conceivable that they go a whole year without winning a race, such is the gap to McLaren.

Zak Brown’s squad have raced out to a 197-point lead ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. Vasseur is pleased that Ferrari overtook Mercedes and Red Bull, but one team have been plagued by unreliability and the other lack two consistent scorers.

Fourth in the world championship with barely half the points of leader Oscar Piastri, Leclerc is considering his future. And the Hamilton move has been a complete failure up to this point, with neither side able to offer a satisfactory explanation for his consistent underperformance.

Ferrari bosses asked Fred Vasseur to accelerate upgrades for 2025

Vasseur entered the year in a position of strength, with optimism levels at Ferrari perhaps higher than they’ve been at any point since the 2008 constructors’ triumph – the team’s last silverware.

Credited with overseeing that turnaround, he’s quickly been labelled the cause of the team’s swift decline by some critics. And now there are murmurs that he could follow the same path as predecessor Mattia Binotto, sacked in 2022.

According to Motorsport Italia, Vasseur’s contract expires at the end of the season, and there still haven’t been any talks over a renewal. This is affecting the internal ‘stability’ at Maranello.

It may be that Ferrari let him go rather than fire him, but the narrative would be the same. Vasseur has recently taken a risk after pushing back on an instruction from the ‘top management’ to accelerate the upgrade pipeline after Imola.

Vasseur hoped that the FIA’s new front wing directives in Spain would benefit Ferrari, but there was no perceptible change to their competitiveness. They aren’t expected to bring any updates to Montreal either, instead delivering a new rear suspension at Silverstone next month as planned.

Ferrari may already have blown their chance at winning in 2026

Mercedes are widely expected to lead the way when the new regulations are introduced next year. That’s particularly bad news for Hamilton, who left the team to realise a boyhood dream but is now running out of time.

Ferrari’s best hope of challenging the Silver Arrows was signing Adrian Newey, the legendary designer. But they lost out to Aston Martin in the battle for his signature.

Ferrari now regret missing out on Newey and there are doubts over whether Loic Serra is up to the task. Serra joined from Mercedes last autumn.

Chairman John Elkann is obsessed with recruiting Christian Horner, but the Red Bull boss hasn’t been receptive to his approaches. Ferrari may have to recruit from within if they do decide to move on from Vasseur.