Ferrari’s heavy setback at the 2026 Italian Grand Prix could prove to be a defining moment in the team’s season, with growing scrutiny now surrounding both team principal Frédéric Vasseur and Charles Leclerc. The scale of the disappointment at Monza has fuelled suggestions that the race may eventually be remembered as the dividing line between a “before” and an “after” for Ferrari in 2026.
Since the morning after the Grand Prix, several prominent publications, including The Race, have begun reporting paddock rumours suggesting that Ferrari’s senior management did not take the defeat at its home race well. The disappointment was made even more painful by the fact that an Italian driver won at Monza while racing for Mercedes.
Could Monza mark a turning point for Frédéric Vasseur and Ferrari?
For the team itself, there is a clear sense of contrast between Ferrari before and after Monza. During the first half of the season, the Scuderia had even dreamed of challenging Mercedes for the Constructors’ Championship. It now finds itself facing the prospect of postponing those ambitions once again until next year, while also worrying about whether it can even retain second place in the standings.
The situation may also represent a crossroads for Frédéric Vasseur. According to the paddock speculation now circulating, the considerable confidence the French manager had enjoyed until this point may have diminished, with both his work and his future at Maranello reportedly being questioned.
The Italian Grand Prix result is not the only issue being placed under scrutiny. Frédéric Vasseur has also faced criticism over Ferrari’s failure to establish clearly defined rules of engagement between its drivers, a question that became particularly visible around Monza. The wider debate over Ferrari’s management of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc has become increasingly significant as the season has progressed.
Another criticism concerns what has been perceived as an overly accommodating approach towards the FIA regarding the revision of start procedures introduced at the beginning of the season. Those changes are considered to have undermined the design choices that led Ferrari to define the SF-26 concept.
Against this backdrop, the names of Antonello Coletta and Christian Horner have resurfaced in discussions about Ferrari’s future leadership. However, neither can currently be considered a concrete candidate to replace Frédéric Vasseur.
Charles Leclerc also faces a potential before-and-after moment
Monza could prove to be a watershed moment for Charles Leclerc as well. For years, the Monegasque driver has been regarded as the figure capable of carrying Ferrari through difficult periods: the driver who could rescue results when the car was struggling, the fan favourite prepared to risk everything for the Prancing Horse.
That image could be damaged by a subdued 2026 campaign that has featured too many mistakes. The scrutiny surrounding Charles Leclerc has intensified further following his difficult Italian Grand Prix and heavy accident, with the circumstances surrounding his Monza crash prompting a wider debate about his current situation.
His performances are increasingly being reassessed in retrospect. The emerging criticism portrays Charles Leclerc as unquestionably fast, but also as a driver who has too often failed to convert that speed into the desired outcome and who can struggle with the pressures created by sharing a team with a highly competitive team-mate.
That changing perception has already generated a strong debate in Italy, including the response to Peter Windsor’s criticism of Charles Leclerc following Ferrari’s recent performances.
Charles Leclerc comparison with Sebastian Vettel resurfaces
The inevitable concern is whether this could represent the beginning of a downward trajectory reminiscent of Sebastian Vettel’s final years at Ferrari. The comparison recalls the 2018 German Grand Prix, when Sebastian Vettel’s championship challenge suffered a devastating blow after he crashed into the barriers while leading at Hockenheim.
The suggestion is not that Charles Leclerc has already reached the same point, but that Monza could become one of those races that changes the way a driver’s season, and eventually his wider Ferrari career, is viewed.
For a driver who has spent years being seen as one of the central pillars of the Maranello project, that would represent a significant shift. The question now is whether the 2026 season becomes a temporary difficult chapter or begins to alter the perception of Charles Leclerc’s role within the team.
Ferrari risks entering another cycle of rebuilding
More broadly, the aftermath of the Italian Grand Prix appears to have restarted a familiar and seemingly endless process at Maranello: dismantling, reassessing and rebuilding the Formula 1 team in search of a structure capable of returning Ferrari permanently to the front.
The Scuderia has been pursuing that redemption for almost two decades. Monza was only one race, but the scale of the sporting disappointment, the renewed uncertainty surrounding Frédéric Vasseur and the changing debate around Charles Leclerc mean its consequences could extend well beyond the result itself.
Whether the Italian Grand Prix genuinely becomes the dividing line between two different phases of Ferrari’s 2026 season will depend on what happens next. For now, however, the defeat at home has intensified questions that had previously remained in the background and brought the leadership, the drivers and the direction of the Maranello project back under close examination.
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