Vasseur fed up with '25 times a day' Horner questions

Fred Vasseur is beginning to sound like a man who would quite happily discuss almost anything other than Christian Horner.

The Ferrari team principal admitted in Baku that he was being asked about the former Red Bull boss “25 times a day”, as speculation over his own future at the Scuderia continues to overshadow Ferrari’s fight for second place in the Constructors’ championship.

Horner reignited a wave of intrigue this week when he told The Times that working for Ferrari is “the dream”. Given the Italian team’s struggles to turn its promising start to the season into sustained title-challenging form, the remark was always going to land with some force.

For Vasseur, however, the constant questions are becoming an irritation.

Ferrari’s fight getting lost in the noise

Ferrari’s campaign has become an increasingly awkward backdrop to the speculation surrounding its team principal.

After showing considerable promise earlier in the year, the Scuderia has struggled to take the fight to the Silver Arrows, while Vasseur has also had to swat away reports of internal tensions and alleged pressure from Lewis Hamilton over personnel changes.

Now, with Horner openly declaring his attraction to the Ferrari job, the subject has become virtually unavoidable.

“We are not working in perfect serenity,” Vasseur said in Baku when asked about the latest Horner talk.

“For me, firstly, but for everybody in the team. For the media, for 50% of the questions [to be] about this, I think it's a bit of a frustrating situation.

“We are fighting for P2 in the championship, and at the end of the day, we are all speaking a lot about this, and even for the guys in the garage, to discuss about this, it's the best discussion that we can have.”

There was little attempt from Vasseur to disguise his frustration. The Frenchman knows that every fresh question about Horner inevitably drags attention away from Ferrari’s actual battle on track, and from the job he is still trying to complete.

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“But it is what it is; it's not in my hands,” he added. “Mr Horner is looking for a job - that, everybody knows - everywhere.

“But what can I do? Just try to do my best to push the team, to raise them to be motivated, focus on what is better today.

“Each interview, 25 times a day, we are coming back to this.”

Seven races, and no intention of easing off

Vasseur was even more intriguing when he delivered one final comment that could easily invite another round of speculation about his future.

“It is like it is; we still have seven races to go, and I will push until the last corner”, he said.

Whether that was simply a determination to finish the season strongly or something more pointed, Vasseur left the interpretation hanging in the air.

For now, at least, he insists there is still plenty to fight for. And despite the noise surrounding his position, he remains adamant about the attraction of the role he currently occupies, describing being Ferrari team principal as “the best job in the world”.

Hamilton, meanwhile, was given an opportunity to add his own voice to the debate earlier on Saturday in Baku. Asked whether he still had faith in Vasseur as team boss, the seven-time world champion offered a concise answer: “Yes!”.

That may not silence the Horner chatter. But with seven races still remaining, Vasseur clearly intends to let Ferrari’s work on the circuit do as much of the talking as possible.

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