A legendary team with internal turmoil forever broiling beneath the surface; a pattern that has haunted Ferrari for decades. An old habit, unchanged, as tension reportedly mounts yet again inside the Maranello-based outfit this season.
Outpaced by Mercedes, Ferrari now sits in third position in the Constructors’ Championship, raising the question of where it all went wrong after last season’s battle for second. Rumours point towards intrateam conflicts and a lack of collective focus. Let’s break them down.
Fred Vasseur’s alleged clash with a Ferrari engineer and contract doubts
After a disappointing outing for the cherry red team in Singapore, with Leclerc finishing sixth and Hamilton eighth, Corriere dello Sport reported a ‘tense discussion between Fred Vasseur and Ferrari’s Head of track engineering’.
Speculating on the exact words exchanged is moot, but whispers within the paddock suggest there is growing discontent within Leclerc’s engineering team, stirred by the Monegasque’s unforgiving criticism of the SF-25.
Charles Leclerc Criticises Ferrari After Falling Behind rivals
Ferrari’s press office has since cleared the rumours by denying any form of internal conflict between the team principal and engineer.
However, as one rumour dies, another emerges. Reportedly, senior board members at Ferrari are looking for Vaseur’s replacement despite his multi-year contract. A rumour that was neither confirmed nor denied by the Italian outfit. If there’s truth to it, Ferrari’s leadership may find itself on unstable ground.
Charles Leclerc’s unwavering loyalty to Ferrari is in question
The Monegasque has been Ferrari’s biggest fan. The love is reciprocated by the Tifosi, who refer to him as ‘il Predestinato’. Charles Leclerc is the man destined to bring the Italian team to glory.
This season has thwarted those hopes. After the Singapore weekend, Leclerc was particularly pessimistic about Ferrari’s chances to win a race this season, which immediately sparked rumours about the Monegasque’s future.
The initial speculation was that Leclerc’s management was in talks with competing teams for a potential seat in 2027. However, sources clarified that these meetings were not concerning Leclerc. They were about a junior driver who is also represented by the same team.
For now, Leclerc’s Ferrari dream is still alive. But many believe that Leclerc won’t become a World Champion wearing red. F1TV commentator Jacques has pointed out that if Leclerc decides to stay and it proves to be the wrong call, he risks his chances at a title slipping away for good. Would Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari man, ever abandon Ferrari to become a World Champion elsewhere?
Hamilton tries to break decades of red tape at the Scuderia with a new private document
A seven-time world champion and a championship-winning team would ordinarily make for an unstoppable combination. Yet, so far, the collaboration between Ferrari and Hamilton hasn’t borne fruit. Still, Hamilton is determined to bring about change to a team he believes has “all the ingredients to win.”
The Briton has been consistently sending documents to the team, flagging structural adjustments and car issues that need to be fixed. Apparently going unheard, Hamilton has sent another private document, this time to Ferrari’s upper management. Put simply, Hamilton and Ferrari are still not in sync, which is only natural in their first year of collaboration.
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However, Ferrari is a bureaucratic organisation, with layers of procedures set in place to preserve Enzo Ferrari’s legacy on all levels. Hamilton’s plea for structural change might get lost in a haystack.
On a broader note, there’s a lot of hearsay surrounding Ferrari at the moment, partly due to the precarious situation the team is in. Rumours are inevitable for a team of Ferrari’s size, but as the saying goes: where there’s smoke, there’s fire. We’ll carefully apply that saying here.
