Overview
- Ferrari held a hastily arranged media call on Tuesday to say it has "full confidence" in team principal Fred Vasseur and that the company "has made its choices," a move designed to halt growing speculation about his future.
- The press intervention followed an interview in The Times in which Christian Horner called Ferrari "the dream" and said he would consider the role without an ownership stake, comments that intensified media attention during a poor Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.
- Vasseur responded publicly to the rumours by calling the speculation frustrating and saying "Mr Horner is looking for a job," while Ferrari communications chief Maria Conti spoke for chairman John Elkann and CEO Benedetto Vigna in backing Vasseur.
- Reporting that internal contingency discussions had occurred remains unverified, and multiple former Ferrari figures have warned that hiring a single high-profile leader would not address the team’s core problems.
- The substantive pressure on Ferrari continues to be the SF-26’s lack of engine power relative to rivals, a technical shortfall that sources and analysts say is the root cause of poor results and the reason for ongoing scrutiny of the leadership team.