Ferrari rides out a bruising news cycle: stock slides, Horner chatter grows, and Leclerc’s words land heavily
Ferrari’s logo might gleam in the Doha sun, but Thursday wasn’t the Scuderia’s day. The road car business spooked the markets with a downbeat update, pundits revived the “get a heavyweight leader” debate, and Charles Leclerc’s post-Singapore candor reportedly ruffled feathers back in Maranello. That’s a lot of noise for a team already carrying the weight of 2025 expectations with Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton sharing the garage.
Let’s start with the money. Ferrari’s updated earnings guidance at its Capital Markets Day didn’t charm investors, and the stock took a hit across multiple exchanges. Chairman John Elkann called his commitment to the brand a “personal matter” in the wake of the slide—a neat way of saying he’s not going anywhere, even if some forecasts underwhelmed. The listed company and the F1 team are separate in many practical ways, but when the prancing horse stumbles in one arena, the tremor tends to be felt in the other. Perception is Ferrari’s oxygen.
Into that atmosphere rolled a familiar storyline: Ferrari needs a figurehead with a hammer in his hand. Johnny Herbert, ex-F1 driver and FIA steward, went for the headline, arguing that recently ousted Red Bull team boss Christian Horner should be the “prime target” in Maranello after Ferrari missed out on Adrian Newey. It’s the kind of take that lights up the switchboard: a proven political brawler, a serial title-winner, parachuted into the red machine.
Whether Ferrari would ever go there is another question entirely. Frédéric Vasseur is in the seat and widely respected internally, and Ferrari has historically bristled at importing an all-powerful outsider to run the show. Horner, for all his silverware, would arrive with baggage and a need for broad autonomy. That’s not exactly the Maranello way. But as a conversation starter? It’s irresistible. If Ferrari feels it needs shock therapy in the current regulations cycle, Horner’s CV makes him an obvious (if unlikely) name to throw around.
On track, the week began with Leclerc’s blunt assessment after a bruising Singapore Grand Prix. The Monegasque’s verdict on Ferrari’s pace versus their rivals was icy-cold, and, according to reports in Italy, it didn’t land well with a chunk of the engineering group. None of this is entirely new—Ferrari has lived with public pressure for as long as it’s painted cars red—but it does highlight the tightrope the team is walking in 2025. Mercedes’ all-time great has moved in next door, and with Hamilton alongside him, Leclerc knows platitudes are just dead air. Honesty can sting. It can also move the needle.
Elsewhere in the paddock, Alpine offered a timely vote of confidence for one of the year’s most scrutinized rookies. Managing director Steve Nielsen praised Franco Colapinto’s development curve in what’s been, by any measure, an uphill debut season. The Argentine will be given a few more races before Alpine makes a firm call on 2026, which is both a reprieve and a challenge. The doors for next year won’t stay open forever, but the message is clear: keep trending up, and the conversation changes.
And then there’s the courtroom drama that refuses to end. Alex Palou, double IndyCar champion and the driver perpetually caught between desires and documents, told London’s High Court he felt “upset and angry” when he learned McLaren had signed Oscar Piastri to the F1 seat he believed was earmarked for him. McLaren refutes that premise and is seeking $20.7 million in compensation, turning a long-simmering contractual saga into a full-blown legal battle with real financial teeth. It’s a reminder that the bridge between IndyCar and F1 is paved not just with lap time, but with paperwork and timing—and that McLaren plays hard when it feels crossed.
Back to Ferrari, where the volume knob has been turned up, again. Share price wobbles won’t dictate lap time, but they do sharpen internal debates. Talk of Horner is box-office more than blueprint. And Leclerc’s sting isn’t insubordination; it’s the sound of a title-caliber driver refusing to pretend. If there’s a throughline to this week’s noise, it’s that Ferrari’s margin for error in 2025 is vanishingly small. With Hamilton in red, the standard has been reset. The only antidote is performance—clean, repeatable, pressure-proof performance.
It’s a long season. But in Maranello, patience has never been part of the brand identity.
