Daily Mail journalist Jonathan McEvoy has launched a personal attack on Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur, accusing the French manager of being responsible for the withdrawal of his Formula 1 paddock accreditation. However, sources close to Ferrari insist that neither the team nor its boss played any part in the decision, which was taken independently by the FIA following the journalist’s controversial criticism of Charles Leclerc.
The dispute has intensified after Jonathan McEvoy was informed that his permanent paddock pass had been withdrawn for the remainder of the championship. The sanction followed an article published on 4 November in which the British journalist used offensive language to describe Charles Leclerc. Jonathan McEvoy has now turned his attention towards Fred Vasseur, alleging that the Ferrari team principal reported him to the authorities, despite the FIA being responsible for accreditation decisions.
Jonathan McEvoy attacks Fred Vasseur after FIA withdraws F1 paddock pass
On Thursday evening, the well-known Daily Mail journalist published a lengthy article criticising Fred Vasseur following the decision to exclude him from the Formula 1 paddock for the rest of the season.
Jonathan McEvoy explained that the sanction stemmed from his 4 November column, in which he had launched a particularly aggressive attack on Charles Leclerc following the controversy involving Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The original column attracted considerable attention online because of the journalist’s choice of words. Jonathan McEvoy described the Monegasque driver as a “sneaky little bastard”, an expression widely considered offensive and well beyond the language normally associated with sporting criticism.
Following the withdrawal of his accreditation, the journalist appears to have identified Fred Vasseur as the person responsible for his exclusion, accusing the Ferrari boss of having informed the authorities about his comments.
Jonathan McEvoy claimed that Fred Vasseur had “snitched” on him and directed further personal insults towards the French manager, describing him as a “small, chubby nobody” and a “giggling buffoon”.
The Daily Mail correspondent defended his earlier comments about Charles Leclerc by arguing that the column had been written in an ironic and light-hearted spirit. Nevertheless, his latest criticism of the Ferrari team principal has added another dimension to an already controversial dispute.
Ferrari denies involvement in Jonathan McEvoy’s FIA ban
Despite the accusations directed at Fred Vasseur, the decision to withdraw Jonathan McEvoy’s Formula 1 paddock accreditation was made by the FIA, not Ferrari.
As Jonathan McEvoy himself acknowledged, the notification of his temporary exclusion came from Alberto Villarreal Gutierrez, the FIA’s director general.
The FIA is responsible for managing Formula 1 media accreditation and operates independently when deciding whether a journalist has breached the standards expected of paddock representatives. The governing body also monitors conduct that it considers potentially damaging to the sport. A recent example involved Isack Hadjar, who received a warning after pushing a spectator.
Jonathan McEvoy’s comments about Charles Leclerc were examined by the FIA and attracted particular attention because they concerned one of Formula 1’s most popular drivers.
The governing body subsequently decided to withdraw the journalist’s accreditation, considering that his personal criticism had crossed the boundaries of acceptable professional conduct. Sources close to Ferrari have confirmed that the Italian team did not put pressure on the FIA to remove Jonathan McEvoy’s paddock pass. Although the Scuderia was understandably unhappy with the language used against Charles Leclerc, it reportedly made no attempt to influence the governing body’s decision.
The distinction is important because the journalist’s accusations against Fred Vasseur suggest direct involvement by the Ferrari team principal, whereas the information from Ferrari indicates that the sanction originated entirely from the FIA.
The controversy follows the initial FIA decision to suspend Jonathan McEvoy over his Charles Leclerc insult, which had already prompted criticism of the governing body’s treatment of accredited media.
Could Jonathan McEvoy’s previous criticism of Formula 1 have contributed?
Another possibility is that Jonathan McEvoy’s suspension was influenced by a series of particularly harsh articles about Formula 1 rather than solely by his criticism of Charles Leclerc.
The British journalist has repeatedly used strong language when discussing the championship in recent months, raising the possibility that his latest column represented the final incident in a longer period of scrutiny by the FIA.
On 26 October, Jonathan McEvoy described the championship as a “season of deadly boredom, the most sterile and anaemic shadow of Formula 1” and also referred to the “farcical Bahrain Grand Prix”.
Earlier, on 5 October, he criticised the direction of the sport by arguing that the “DNA of F1” had been “dismantled by the politically correct brigade”. These statements demonstrate the confrontational tone adopted by the Daily Mail correspondent in his recent Formula 1 coverage. It is therefore plausible that the FIA was already paying close attention to his work and that the Charles Leclerc column ultimately prompted the accreditation decision.
However, there is no confirmation that the governing body considered those earlier articles when determining the sanction. The suggestion that Jonathan McEvoy had accumulated several offences remains a possible explanation rather than an established fact.
FIA journalist accreditation controversy raises wider questions
According to paddock sources, Jonathan McEvoy is not the first journalist to have lost Formula 1 accreditation during the period associated with Liberty Media and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Those sources suggest that similar measures have been taken against other members of the media in recent years, whereas such exclusions reportedly did not occur during Bernie Ecclestone’s time in charge of Formula 1.
The latest dispute consequently raises broader questions about the relationship between Formula 1’s governing authorities and the journalists covering the championship. While the FIA has a responsibility to maintain professional standards among accredited media representatives, the decision has also prompted debate about the extent to which journalists should be allowed to express strongly critical opinions.
For Ferrari, however, the immediate issue concerns the accusations made against its team principal. Fred Vasseur has become the target of Jonathan McEvoy’s anger despite sources close to the team denying any involvement in the withdrawal of his accreditation.
With the FIA having taken responsibility for the sanction, the disagreement now extends beyond the original personal insult directed at Charles Leclerc. The controversy centres on the conduct expected of Formula 1 journalists, the independence of accreditation decisions and the consequences of crossing the line between sporting criticism and personal abuse.
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