As Ferrari’s long wait for a Formula 1 world championship continues, fresh questions are beginning to emerge about whether team principal Fred Vasseur is still the man capable of leading the Scuderia back to the top of the sport.
Despite encouraging signs during the 2026 season and a number of strong performances from Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, some observers inside the Formula 1 world are starting to wonder whether Ferrari’s current project has reached its natural limit.
Among them is former Ferrari engineer Luigi Mazzola, a highly respected figure who spent two decades working in Maranello during some of the team’s most successful eras. In his view, Ferrari’s current trajectory suggests the team may have extracted most of the potential available from the structure built under Fred Vasseur.
While the Frenchman has undeniably stabilized Ferrari since arriving from Sauber at the end of 2022, the crucial question remains whether stability alone is enough to defeat Mercedes and bring world championships back to Maranello.
Progress is visible, but the final step remains missing
Fred Vasseur inherited a team that had shown flashes of speed but struggled with consistency, operational mistakes and internal pressure. Over the last several seasons, Ferrari has become a more disciplined and organized operation, reducing many of the errors that previously undermined its championship ambitions.
The results offer evidence that progress has been made.
Lewis Hamilton currently occupies second place in the Drivers’ Championship after six rounds of the 2026 season, while Ferrari has regularly established itself as the second-most competitive team behind Mercedes. In addition, podium finishes in Canada and Monaco demonstrated that the SF-26 is capable of competing near the front on different types of circuits.
However, Ferrari’s ultimate target has never been second place.
The team has not won a Drivers’ Championship since Kimi Räikkönen’s title in 2007 and has not secured the Constructors’ Championship since 2008. Every season without silverware inevitably increases pressure on management, engineers and drivers alike.
According to Luigi Mazzola, the issue is not that Ferrari has failed. On the contrary, he believes the team has achieved a respectable level of competitiveness under Fred Vasseur. The concern is that Ferrari may no longer be progressing quickly enough to close the remaining gap to the very front.
Mazzola suggested that the Scuderia appears to have reached a performance plateau. In his assessment, Ferrari remains a strong team and one of the fastest cars on the grid, but he struggles to identify the breakthrough that would transform it from an occasional podium contender into a consistent championship-winning force.
Technical creativity remains the key concern
One of the central points raised by the former Ferrari engineer involves technical innovation.
While Ferrari has continued introducing upgrades and refining the SF-26 throughout the season, the team has often found itself reacting to rivals rather than setting the benchmark. Mercedes, in particular, has maintained a significant advantage despite Ferrari’s ongoing development efforts.
Mazzola believes that management in Formula 1 extends beyond leadership and communication. It also involves identifying elite engineering talent, creating the right technical environment and encouraging the kind of innovation capable of producing race-winning concepts.
In his view, Ferrari’s biggest limitation may not be operational execution but rather a lack of the technical creativity required to consistently build the fastest car on the grid.
This criticism arrives at a sensitive moment. Ferrari recently introduced Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc as the cornerstone of its long-term future, and expectations inside Maranello remain extremely high. Yet the gap to Mercedes remains substantial, particularly with Kimi Antonelli enjoying a dominant run at the front of the championship.
Lewis Hamilton remains one of Fred Vasseur’s strongest supporters
Despite the growing external scrutiny, Fred Vasseur continues to enjoy strong backing from within the Ferrari garage, particularly from Lewis Hamilton.
Since arriving at Maranello, Lewis Hamilton has repeatedly praised the Ferrari team principal for creating a more positive and supportive environment. The seven-time world champion has highlighted the confidence Fred Vasseur has shown in him and credited the Frenchman for helping modernize the team’s working culture.
Following the Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton reportedly emphasized that his strong result would not have been possible without the work being carried out behind the scenes by Fred Vasseur and the wider Ferrari organization.
Charles Leclerc has also publicly supported the direction of the project, recently committing his long-term future to Ferrari through a new contract extension.
Those endorsements suggest that the drivers remain convinced the team is moving in the right direction, even if the results have not yet translated into championship success.
A more open Ferrari, but results will decide everything
One of the most notable cultural changes introduced by Fred Vasseur has been a shift away from the fear-based environment that previously existed within certain areas of the organization.
Reports from Maranello indicate that engineers are now encouraged to take greater risks and explore more aggressive solutions without worrying that a failed idea will immediately lead to criticism or internal consequences.
Fred Vasseur himself was reportedly surprised by how cautious some departments had become when he first arrived at Ferrari. His objective has been to create an atmosphere where innovation is rewarded and mistakes are viewed as part of the development process.
Such an approach is widely considered essential in modern Formula 1, where technical progress often depends on the willingness to pursue ambitious ideas.
The challenge, however, is that cultural improvements must eventually be reflected in championship standings.
Could Ferrari eventually look elsewhere?
Although Fred Vasseur remains under contract through 2027 and is believed to have options that could extend his stay even further, Formula 1 has always been a results-driven business.
Luigi Mazzola believes Ferrari’s leadership will eventually need to evaluate whether adjustments within the current structure are enough to achieve a world championship or whether more radical changes become necessary.
In his view, any final judgment should only come once the season has run its course. With numerous Grands Prix still remaining, upgrades continuing to arrive and reliability playing an important role, there is still time for the competitive picture to change.
However, if Ferrari ends 2026 without winning either the Drivers’ Championship or the Constructors’ Championship, a comprehensive assessment of the project will become unavoidable.
That evaluation could include difficult questions regarding leadership, technical direction and the overall structure of the Formula 1 operation.
Several names have already been mentioned as potential future alternatives should the Italian side ever decide to pursue a different path. Antonello Coletta, who has overseen Ferrari’s highly successful World Endurance Championship programme, is frequently cited as a candidate capable of stepping into a larger role within the Formula 1 division.
Meanwhile, speculation has also linked Christian Horner with Ferrari, although reports suggest there are differing opinions within the company’s leadership regarding whether such a move would ever be pursued.
The next year could define Fred Vasseur’s Ferrari legacy
For now, Fred Vasseur remains firmly in charge and continues to enjoy the confidence of Ferrari’s senior management.
Yet the reality of Formula 1 is that results ultimately shape reputations. Ferrari has assembled one of the strongest driver pairings on the grid in Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, invested heavily in development and restructured key areas of its operation.
If those efforts eventually deliver a championship, Fred Vasseur will be credited with ending one of the longest title droughts in Ferrari history. If they do not, the pressure surrounding his position is only likely to intensify.
As the Maranello team approaches two decades without a Drivers’ Championship, the coming months may prove decisive not only for the future of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc‘s title ambitions, but also for Fred Vasseur’s long-term future at the helm of Formula 1’s most famous team.
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