Ferrari’s problems are no longer confined to what happens on the circuit. A series of awkward episodes involving Christian Horner, Charles Leclerc and Fred Vasseur has once again highlighted a communication problem that increasingly appears to affect the way Maranello deals with the media, its drivers and its own supporters.
Ferrari is hardly enjoying its best period, and many fans might struggle to remember the last time everything around the Scuderia felt genuinely positive. Unfortunately for Maranello, the problems do not concern only what happens on the asphalt. They increasingly extend into the public sphere as well, especially through the words of the people representing the team at the highest level.
Ferrari’s communication has become extremely difficult to defend. At times, the impression is that the team struggles to communicate clearly with its drivers, supporters and the media – and might even have trouble ordering a takeaway pizza without creating another misunderstanding.
At Ferrari, every sentence risks becoming another controversy
Christian Horner recently placed himself firmly into the conversation surrounding Ferrari’s future, effectively presenting himself as a possible team principal candidate and making clear that Maranello is the one Formula 1 destination he would consider even without an ownership stake. His comments immediately reignited speculation about the position of Fred Vasseur.
The former Red Bull team principal has described Ferrari as Formula 1’s sleeping giant and made his admiration for the Scuderia explicit. Those remarks inevitably carried weight because of his record in the sport and because Christian Horner openly left the door to Ferrari ajar.
In almost any organisation, that kind of external intervention would usually produce an immediate and coordinated response from senior management if the existing team principal were considered completely secure.
Instead, the silence initially surrounding the situation allowed the speculation to grow. The Ferrari world rapidly moved into another familiar cycle of debate over Fred Vasseur’s future, as if another leadership change might suddenly be imminent.
The irony is obvious. If Ferrari truly intends to keep Fred Vasseur, the simplest way to avoid unnecessary uncertainty would be to communicate that position with absolute clarity and consistency. When that clarity does not arrive immediately, every outside comment begins to take on far more significance than it probably deserves.
Then came Charles Leclerc and the ADUO-2 episode
The Christian Horner situation might have remained an isolated example of institutional silence. Only hours later, however, Ferrari found itself involved in another awkward communication episode.
Charles Leclerc was taking part in an otherwise routine post-race interview with his press officer standing behind him. The Monegasque driver began discussing the Ferrari power unit and referred to the ADUO-2 specification, apparently revealing a detail the team would have preferred not to be stated publicly.
The reaction behind Charles Leclerc quickly became the most memorable part of the clip. His press officer visibly responded to the comment, producing the impression that the Ferrari driver had just disclosed something highly sensitive rather than simply identifying a power-unit specification.
The episode became especially amusing because the supposedly protected detail was hardly the sort of information Formula 1 rivals would be unable to investigate independently. The wider context of Ferrari’s ADUO programme had already become highly relevant during the Azerbaijan weekend, when Charles Leclerc avoided a Baku grid penalty as Ferrari preserved the Monza ADUO-2 unit.
The power-unit detail itself is almost secondary. What matters more is the scene it created: another public moment in which Ferrari’s communication appeared reactive rather than controlled.
The ADUO episode is only one small part of a much bigger problem
The debate over whether Ferrari should or should not publicly identify a power-unit upgrade is merely one small piece of a much larger pattern.
Every season, Ferrari arrives at the familiar end-of-year gathering in Maranello where the team principal outlines expectations, describes the direction of the project and attempts to set the tone for the campaign ahead.
Those expectations often carry enormous weight because Ferrari does not enter Formula 1 seasons simply hoping to be competitive. The public message inevitably revolves around progress, victories and the possibility of returning to the front.
Then reality arrives.
Sometimes it takes only the opening stages of winter testing for the competitive picture to look very different from the expectations created only weeks earlier. The car may remain perfectly intact, but if the stopwatch already shows a substantial deficit to the main rivals, the narrative immediately starts to unravel.
That gap between expectation and reality contributes directly to Ferrari’s communication difficulty. When the sporting results fail to match the promises, every interview becomes harder and every sentence attracts greater scrutiny.
Ferrari is no longer accustomed to winning
The deeper issue is that Ferrari is no longer accustomed to sustained success. The pressure remains enormous because the identity of the Scuderia is still tied to winning, yet those expectations repeatedly collide with seasons that do not deliver what supporters were led to hope for.
The result is an environment where, once a microphone appears, nobody seems entirely certain what the correct message should be.
There often appears to be no single, coherent line connecting the team, the drivers and the public communication surrounding them. Instead, each person can seem left to navigate difficult moments independently.
That becomes particularly visible after frustrating races. Charles Leclerc can emerge from a Grand Prix clearly unhappy after strategy or performance problems. Lewis Hamilton can appear deeply disappointed after another difficult weekend. Fred Vasseur then has to answer another round of questions about whether he will still be in charge in the future.
The sporting frustration itself is understandable. The difficulty is that Ferrari repeatedly allows those different strands to become separate public narratives rather than parts of one coordinated message.
That pressure has become increasingly difficult to separate from the technical problems of the SF-26, with Ferrari’s technical analysis repeatedly showing how performance limitations, set-up compromises and power-unit weaknesses can shape the tone of a weekend before the team ever reaches the post-race microphones.
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are left carrying the frustration
Ferrari’s drivers are inevitably at the centre of this because they are the people asked to explain what happened immediately after climbing out of the car.
Charles Leclerc has repeatedly had to discuss weekends where the potential of the SF-26 has not translated into the result expected. His frustration becomes part of the story because the Monegasque driver is often required to explain problems that originate far beyond anything he can control from the cockpit.
The same applies to Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion has faced his own difficult moments as Ferrari has searched for performance and consistency, with the team’s current situation increasingly shaping the public conversation around both drivers.
Those stories can be followed separately through the latest Charles Leclerc Ferrari updates and Lewis Hamilton Ferrari coverage, but the recurring theme remains the same: both drivers are being asked to carry the emotional consequences of a project that has not consistently met its own expectations.
Fred Vasseur is forced to defend himself while trying to lead Ferrari
Fred Vasseur faces a different version of the same problem. Rather than spending every press appearance discussing how Ferrari can improve its performance, the team principal repeatedly finds himself addressing rumours about his own position.
That inevitably distracts from the sporting discussion and creates the impression of instability even when the internal situation may actually be more secure than the outside conversation suggests.
The problem becomes self-reinforcing. Speculation creates questions, the questions create irritation, the irritation becomes another headline, and that headline generates more speculation.
At some point, Ferrari has to interrupt that cycle.
A team with the size, history and global visibility of the Scuderia cannot eliminate scrutiny. Nor can it stop journalists from asking difficult questions or supporters from reacting emotionally when results are disappointing.
What it can control is its own message.
Ferrari’s atmosphere has become increasingly poisonous
The uncomfortable conclusion is that the environment around Ferrari has become increasingly unhealthy. Every disappointing result adds another layer of pressure, while uncertainty around leadership, technical performance and expectations creates the conditions for another public controversy.
Continuing to hide problems beneath the surface rather than confronting them directly will not make those problems disappear.
Ferrari cannot simply wait for the next victory to solve everything. Winning would certainly reduce the noise, but communication cannot work only when the car is competitive. The most important test of an organisation’s public message comes precisely when the results are difficult.
Until Maranello establishes a clearer and more consistent way of communicating with its drivers, the media and its supporters, the same pattern is likely to continue: awkward interviews, mixed signals, leadership speculation and frustration spilling into public view.
Ferrari’s sporting problems are difficult enough to solve on their own. Creating additional ones every time somebody speaks only makes the task harder.
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