Ferrari’s season-long flatline has kept Fred Vasseur in the crosshairs, even after Maranello rubber‑stamped his future with a new multi‑year deal in July. The mood music hasn’t changed much since then. The wins still haven’t come, the glare is still unforgiving, and now the CEO is saying the quiet part out loud.
“There are other teams where everything seems to run more smoothly than it does for us,” admitted Benedetto Vigna, a strikingly candid assessment as Ferrari limps toward the finish with four races to go. He added that the Scuderia must ensure “all the ingredients necessary to win are functioning properly,” pledging a “united and cohesive” push through Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
On paper, the ingredients are premium. Ferrari’s 2025 lineup is as A‑list as it gets: Charles Leclerc alongside Lewis Hamilton, who made the headline switch from Mercedes this season. In reality, it’s been a year of missed beats. Leclerc has picked up a smattering of podiums; Hamilton is still chasing a first rostrum in red. If the drought holds, Ferrari is staring down its first winless campaign since 2021.
That’s why Vasseur’s contract extension raised eyebrows rather than heart rates. The Frenchman was the subject of feverish speculation as early as June, with whispers that Ferrari had sounded out alternatives after a ragged start. The renewal was meant to slam the brakes on all that. It didn’t.
Talk inevitably drifted to Christian Horner, who left Red Bull in July. Multiple reports suggested Ferrari approached Horner before his exit, though people close to the situation have consistently played it down. The sense is that Horner, should he return to the paddock, wants equity or something close to team‑ownership weight—conditions far beyond a straight team principal gig at Maranello.
Chairman John Elkann, speaking late last month at the NIAF gala in Washington, tried to suffocate the narrative with a public show of support. “I want to express our full confidence in team principal Fred Vasseur and in the work he is doing together with all his colleagues at Scuderia Ferrari,” Elkann said, emphasizing the collective and the need to “maintain focus on the only goal that matters: always giving our best on the track.”
Vasseur, for his part, welcomed the noise-cancelling. He framed Elkann’s comments as a message aimed less at the garage and more at those speculating outside it. “For everybody it’s good to have this kind of message,” he said. “But as we have a permanent contact, we already had the message. That was more for the third party and external target.” On a personal level? “Yes, it’s important. Because, like this, you stop the discussion and you are focused on the next one and not to reply to all the questions about this.”
It’s a neat line, but the truth remains: Ferrari’s issues in 2025 haven’t been mysterious, they’ve been maddeningly familiar. Operational sharpness. Execution under pressure. Extracting the lap time that the car flashes on Friday and losing it again on Sunday. When your own CEO is contrasting your weekend rhythm with rivals who “run more smoothly,” he’s not pointing at wind tunnel figures. He’s talking habits—pit walls, pit stops, procedures, and the sort of friction that bleeds points.
The question inside the paddock isn’t whether Vasseur is on a short leash now—his contract argues otherwise, as does Elkann’s tone—but whether he can make this winter count in a way Ferrari hasn’t for a while. Stability has been the argument for keeping him. Stability needs a payoff.
Between now and Abu Dhabi, the mission is simpler. Keep the car in its window. Stop tripping over the little things. Bank results that feel like a platform, not a pause. Leclerc and Hamilton don’t need grand resets; they need a clean run and a car that does the same job on Sunday it did in FP2.
Vigna’s line about the podium in Mexico “making us happy” but demanding “feet on the ground” sums up the vibe at Maranello. Satisfaction is rationed. Patience is thinner than the paper it’s written on. And while Ferrari insists it will move “in a united and cohesive way,” the volume’s only going down if the results go up.
Four rounds, then a winter to prove the contract meant conviction, not convenience. The Scuderia hasn’t lacked star power in 2025. It’s the smoothness—and the silverware—that’s missing.
