‘I knew I’d get s**t!’ – Vasseur shrugs off Ferrari mayhem

In the pressure cooker that is Ferrari, Fred Vasseur isn’t pretending to be surprised by the heat. Almost two years on from taking the reins of Formula 1’s most scrutinized team, the Frenchman admits he knew exactly what he was signing up for – criticism and all.

“I’ve been in this business for 30 years,” Vasseur told The Athletic in Singapore recently. “I knew perfectly that I will be exposed, I will get s**t.”

That’s about as honest as you can get from a man managing the most mythologized – and maddening – team in motorsport.

The red cars from Maranello are in the midst of their second-longest championship drought, and every lost podium feels like another crack in Italy’s national pride. But Vasseur remains unflappable, even as the pressure builds around him.

Between Progress and Pain

Vasseur’s first full season offered signs of revival. Ferrari climbed above Red Bull in the 2024 Constructors’ Championship, finishing narrowly behind McLaren after a hard-fought finale in Abu Dhabi. But 2025 has been far less kind.

Neither Charles Leclerc nor new arrival Lewis Hamilton has managed a single Grand Prix win so far. The SF-25, once hyped as Ferrari’s great hope, has turned into an unpredictable diva of a car – fast one weekend, flawed the next.

A blend of podium teases – five so far courtesy of Leclerc – and gut punches, like Hamilton's China sprint win on Saturday turning into a plank-wear DQ on Sunday that exposed the SF-25's ride-height riddles.

That glitch snowballed: “If you have a big issue at the beginning, you lose a little bit [of] the path, you have to be on the safe side, and you are losing a little bit… the confidence and everything,” Vasseur reflected.

“At the end of the day, this is mega negative for us. I know that we have to work with pressure, and we have to deal with pressure. It’s the DNA of our sport.

“But I think you have enough pressure on track to not get pressure at home. We know that we need to deliver. We need to get results.”

F1's Ebb and Flow, and Shrugging Off the Noise

Ferrari's not alone in the 2025 rollercoaster – McLaren's favorites tag has wobbled, giving Mercedes, Red Bull and the Scuderia a sniff.

“We are all oscillating up and down, but I would say that even when they are down, they are still there,” Vasseur says of McLaren. “And when they are up, they are flying.”

But as Vasseur knows, the F1 pendulum swings fast, and fortunes can reverse with a single update package.

Speculation about Vasseur’s future at Ferrari has been as relentless as ever, with even Christian Horner’s name tossed into the rumor mill. But the Frenchman has no time for the noise – or for the media circus that often surrounds the House of Maranello.

He’s tuned it out entirely: “And I feel pretty good about this,” he said.

• Read also: Why the Horner-to-Ferrari rumor still doesn’t add up

Both Leclerc and Hamilton have publicly backed their team principal, and Ferrari recently confirmed his contract renewal – a clear statement that Maranello’s hierarchy isn’t ready to hit the eject button.

“This is behind us,” Vasseur concluded. “Let’s be focused on the future.”

The road back to glory may be long, but for Vasseur, that’s part of the ride. After all, in Formula 1’s most intense hot seat, a little bit of “s**t” just comes with the territory.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via X and Facebook