What Fred Vasseur said about Christian Horner in Ferrari message

Silencing rumours that he was about to be sacked by Ferrari by confirming an extension, Fred Vasseur says Christian Horner’s tenure at Red Bull proves that a team principal needs time to build.

Vasseur’s position at Ferrari was reportedly under threat earlier this year after the Scuderia failed to kick on in the championship along with McLaren.

Fred Vasseur is not leaving Ferrari

While the Woking team emerged as the team to beat in F1 2025, Ferrari fell off the pace and has found itself scrambling for podiums and yet to win a grand prix.

Although the team is second in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull, it trails McLaren by 299 points with 10 rounds remaining.

As for the Drivers’ standings, Charles Leclerc is the best-placed driver in fifth place with Lewis Hamilton one place back. The team-mates are mathematically in the race, but barring a complete meltdown from McLaren, they are out of the fight.

It led to speculation, touted by the Italian media, that Vasseur’s job was on the line.

However, after some feisty denials from the Frenchman, Ferrari announced that he’d signed a new multi-year deal, putting an end to the uncertainty surrounding his future.

Vasseur, having complained that the speculation had created uncertainty amongst the Ferrari personnel, was happy to have that signed off.

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“It’s a good step into the process,” Vasseur told the official F1 website of his extension.

“We had a couple of discussions and there were some rumours in the press the last couple of weeks. It’s not easy for the stability of the team and for the mood of the team but now this is behind us.

“It’s important. It’s a good step.

“We have to be ready for the last part of the season. We are fighting with Mercedes and Red Bull for P2 and we want to win some races until the end. The 2026 project (when sweeping new chassis and power unit rules will be introduced) is a huge challenge that we have to be all fully aligned and all together to manage it.”

A challenge that has yet to yield the results either Ferrari’s tifosi or the higher-ups want.

While Vasseur’s first season in charge, 2023, saw a bit of a resurrection as Carlos Sainz became the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race, in 2024, Ferrari won five races with three of those coming in the latter stage of the championship.

That led to the expectation that Ferrari would kick on this season, but McLaren’s form has put all of their rivals – including Ferrari – in the shade.

That led to claims in the Italian media that Vasseur’s position was ‘under scrutiny’ from Ferrari’s top management.

Red Bull’s decision to axe Horner as team principal added to the drama, with a brief bout of rumours that the Briton could be the one to replace Vasseur.

Horner himself though, had backed the former Alfa Romeo team boss for the Ferrari job, saying before his Red Bull exit: “Well, look, I think in any organisation, stability is tremendously important.

“We’ve had 21 years of stability and, you know, that has borne the kind of results that we’ve achieved. I think Fred is a very capable manager. He’s obviously managing effectively a national team in Ferrari, and with that comes expectation and pressure.

“He’s still relatively new to the role and it takes time.”

Vasseur tapped into that it takes time line from Horner, adamant it takes years for a team principal to build a team.

“I’m really convinced that it’s taking time,” said Vasseur. “It’s taking time at Ferrari, but everywhere in general if you have a look at the good story of F1 that when Christian joined Red Bull or when Jean [Todt] joined Ferrari, before all these good success stories [it] took time before the first win.

“You need a couple of years to build up a team, to recruit people that you want to have with you, and then it takes also time to work together. We want to be very agile in F1, but the reality is that we have a lot of inertia.

“Everybody in the company is aligned on this project and pushing in the same direction, and this is probably the best feeling when you have a goal and that everybody is convinced that we can achieve it, we can go for it and that we are all pushing in the same direction.

“It’s not a secret that Ferrari want to win again, but we have a target and the goal is very, very clear. We’ll put everything to achieve it.

“It’s enough as a target that we all want to win the championship. We did a decent step forward everywhere, but now we need perhaps a bit more time to put everything together and the 2026 challenge it’s a good opportunity.”

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