Questions over Frédéric Vasseur’s Ferrari future have not disappeared completely despite the renewed support shown by the Maranello hierarchy. Recent comments involving Christian Horner have again brought attention to the Scuderia’s leadership structure, while one analysis suggests Ferrari would still have a relatively straightforward contractual route to part ways with its team principal if senior management ultimately decided to change direction.
Ferrari has endured a complicated period of speculation surrounding Frédéric Vasseur, particularly after Christian Horner’s name repeatedly entered the discussion. However, the latest indications have moved the former Red Bull team principal further away from Maranello, while Ferrari has publicly reaffirmed its confidence in the French manager and his work.
Christian Horner appears further away from Ferrari
Christian Horner’s latest comments appear to make a move to Ferrari increasingly unlikely. The British manager would reportedly only be interested in returning to Formula 1 under conditions that included an ownership stake and a structure in which he believed he could compete for victories, rather than simply joining a project without a clear route to success.
That position comes after Christian Horner also denied that he was targeting Frédéric Vasseur’s Ferrari team principal role, further reducing the immediate pressure created by speculation linking him with Maranello.
Ferrari, meanwhile, has renewed its support for Frédéric Vasseur and attempted to bring the rumours over his future to an end. The relationship between the French manager and Lewis Hamilton may appear different from the particularly strong bond he shares with Charles Leclerc, but there is currently nothing concrete pointing towards an imminent departure.
The backing from senior management has also been made explicit. Ferrari chairman John Elkann and chief executive Benedetto Vigna have recently reaffirmed their support for the team principal, a position that has been examined in greater detail amid the latest Ferrari vote of confidence in Frédéric Vasseur.
Could Ferrari still part ways with Frédéric Vasseur?
Despite that public backing, the contractual situation does not necessarily remove every possible option for Ferrari if its leadership were eventually to reach a different conclusion.
Rosario Giuliana explained the situation to AutoRacer.it: “Vasseur, for his part, is working under pressure at levels that are paradoxically even worse than in 2025. Ferrari, if it wants to, can ‘easily’ part ways with Vasseur, who would receive a financial severance package. On 31 July 2025, Ferrari officially announced a multi-year contract renewal, without specifying its duration, which nevertheless still contains exit routes.”
He continued: “The point, however, is not to establish whether Vasseur has full powers or not, a condition whose actual boundaries cannot be entirely known from the outside. It is rather to understand how far his decision-making autonomy can influence the processes that determine Ferrari’s competitiveness. The support recently reiterated by Elkann and Vigna represents an important political signal, but support from senior management and the effective freedom to intervene in the organisation are not necessarily the same thing.”
The distinction is important because the debate surrounding Frédéric Vasseur is not simply about whether a contract exists. It also concerns how much authority Ferrari’s team principal has to shape the organisation and influence the processes that ultimately determine the competitiveness of the Formula 1 operation.
Ferrari’s disappointing 2026 campaign keeps pressure high
The 2026 Formula 1 season was expected to be the year in which Ferrari would at least challenge seriously for the championship, but that objective has not been achieved. The problems experienced with the Maranello power unit have formed part of the difficulties, but the leadership question now concerns something broader: whether Ferrari’s senior management still considers Frédéric Vasseur the right person to guide the project forward.
If John Elkann and Benedetto Vigna eventually decided otherwise, Ferrari could theoretically bring his tenure to an end without an insurmountable bureaucratic obstacle. The much more complicated issue would be deciding who should replace him and what consequences another leadership transition might have inside the team.
That is why simply changing the team principal would not necessarily provide an easy solution. A new figure at the top could bring further internal disruption at a time when Ferrari has already made numerous technical and personnel changes, with additional restructuring still expected.
Jérôme D’Ambrosio could offer Ferrari an internal option
If Ferrari required an interim or continuity solution, one possibility could be Jérôme D’Ambrosio, a trusted and established figure already working within the organisation. The Belgian has increasingly taken on responsibility at Maranello and represents an option that would avoid immediately introducing a completely unfamiliar management structure.
His position has already become part of the wider discussion over a possible succession, with Jérôme D’Ambrosio emerging among the internal Ferrari alternatives should the Scuderia eventually decide to change team principal.
Christian Horner, by contrast, currently appears much further away. Questions also remain over exactly how much power Frédéric Vasseur holds and how much freedom he has to reshape Ferrari according to his preferred structure.
That issue has become central to the wider leadership debate. Even appointing another highly experienced figure would not automatically solve Ferrari’s problems if the underlying decision-making structure remained unchanged, which is why the question of how much control Ferrari would offer a team principal remains particularly relevant.
A leadership change could complicate Ferrari’s 2027 project
Ferrari has already made many changes across its technical and personnel structure, and further developments are expected. Against that background, replacing Frédéric Vasseur would inevitably create another period of adjustment at a particularly sensitive stage of the team’s long-term project.
The comparison with the end of 2022 is difficult to ignore. Mattia Binotto left Ferrari before Frédéric Vasseur took over as team principal, and repeating another major leadership transition would offer no guarantee of greater stability heading into the 2027 project.
For now, Ferrari’s official position remains one of support for Frédéric Vasseur. The contractual framework may leave the hierarchy with options if its assessment changes, but the more difficult question is what would come afterwards. Replacing one team principal is relatively straightforward on paper; protecting the stability and competitiveness of the wider Formula 1 project would be a considerably more complex challenge.
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