Ferrari slips, Vasseur stands firm: ‘Disaster is not the right word’

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has pushed back against the growing narrative of crisis at Maranello, insisting that labelling the Scuderia’s 2025 campaign a “complete disaster” is wide of the mark.

The Italian outfit’s drop down the Constructors’ standings has invited the usual chorus of panic, finger-pointing, and doom-laden headlines, but Vasseur insists the season hasn’t imploded – even if the last two weekends have given Ferrari every reason to wince.

Ferrari’s form since the summer break has drifted worryingly, culminating in a double DNF in Brazil that triggered a few pointed remarks on the team’s drivers from chairman John Elkann.

After Las Vegas, where Ferrari again dropped points to its direct rivals and now sits 53 behind Mercedes in fourth place, Vasseur stepped in to cool the temperature around the Scuderia’s increasingly twitchy fanbase.

‘Disaster is not the right word’

“For sure we are not in the situation that we didn't score points the last weekend,” the Frenchman said, pushing back at the narrative of a team in freefall. “But we were P2 in the championship two weeks ago.

“It's not that it was a complete disaster – for me disaster is not the right word – but the tough side is that the last two weekends that we scored six or seven points on two weekends.”

Ferrari had managed just six points from Brazil (all in the sprint) and would have scored nine in Las Vegas had McLaren’s double disqualification not shuffled the pack – but the broader damage was already done.

After briefly climbing to second post-Brazil sprint, Ferrari were overtaken by Red Bull’s solo charge and are now stranded in fourth. That Red Bull – effectively a one-car operation in recent races – has leapfrogged them only adds salt to the wound.

“Before this in the championship we were in front of Mercedes and Red Bull – it means that it's not so dramatic,” Vasseur continued.

“Now I can perfectly understand the drivers, they want to get more. And trust me that in the debriefing on the Monday morning at the factory I'm also a bit harsh.

“But it's our DNA that we want to get more in any case. And I think Max [Verstappen], he will try also to get more from his team, from everybody to do a better job. This is the DNA of everybody into the paddock, it's not a drama.”

Operational Stumbles Add to the Pain

Ferrari’s SF-25 has often been moody, unpredictable, and painfully slow in wet conditions – a trait that reappeared in Las Vegas’s slippery qualifying. But Vasseur admits the car alone isn’t to blame.

Hamilton’s Q1 exit came after he clipped the Turn 14 bollard, but the team also mismanaged communication, leaving him unclear on whether he had enough time for another push lap.

Leclerc, meanwhile, fell victim to Oscar Piastri’s undercut after Ferrari kept him out three laps longer – partly due to uncertainty over tyre life. As Vasseur explained:

“The issue is that we were not sure about the tyres, as we didn't long-stint the [hard-compound] tyres on Friday or Thursday [due to changeable conditions and session disruptions].

“We were not sure about the life of the tyres and to anticipate the pitstop, I'm not sure. And I don't want to speak for Mercedes, Toto or Kimi – I don't know if they were expecting to do one stint, or if they were expecting to pit again.

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“But it's true that we realised during the race that we could go longer and, yeah, probably if you had to redo the strategy now you can say, OK, perhaps if we stopped the lap before Piastri it would have been better.

“But this is always very easy to do after the race.”

Vasseur’s message is clear: yes, Ferrari have tripped over their own shoelaces, but the season isn’t the catastrophe some painted it to be.

Still, a campaign without a Grand Prix win, impacted by a few strategic hiccups and topped off with newfound boardroom scrutiny hardly feels like a celebration.

Ferrari insists it’s not a disaster. But as Vasseur concedes, the last two weekends have definitely been tough – and the margin for further missteps is now razor thin.

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