Ferrari stands by Vasseur after Horner calls Maranello the dream
Communications chief Maria Conti says the team has full confidence in Vasseur, who signed a multi-year deal in 2025, and will not comment on further speculation
Ferrari has publicly backed Fred Vasseur as team principal, days after Christian Horner described the Scuderia as the one team he would join without a share in its ownership. Chief communications officer Maria Conti set out the team’s position in a press call with selected media on Tuesday, The Race reports.
“We have confidence, full confidence, in Fred Vasseur and in his team, and we continue to do so,” Conti said, according to The Race. She added that the position was agreed with Ferrari’s top management, although neither chairman John Elkann nor chief executive Benedetto Vigna made a statement of their own.
A book interview started it
The speculation grew during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend and gained weight after Horner’s interview with The Times. In it, the former Red Bull team principal called Ferrari the biggest brand in Formula 1 and a “sleeping giant”, and said there was only one team for which he would accept not having a stake in the ownership.
According to The Race, the interview was arranged by the publisher of Horner’s upcoming book, and there are no talks between him and Ferrari. Horner is said to stay in regular contact with Elkann, who already offered him the team principal role in 2022. Horner turned that down.
Conti also made clear that Ferrari would not comment further on outside speculation, whether about Horner’s words or about Vasseur’s future in general, RacingNews365 reports.
Vasseur signed a multi-year deal only last year
This is not the first time Ferrari has had to shut down talk about its team principal. In July 2025, amid similar rumours, the team confirmed a multi-year contract extension for Vasseur, who joined from Sauber at the start of 2023.
On track, Ferrari is second in the constructors’ championship with 378 points, well behind Mercedes on 538. Lewis Hamilton is third in the drivers’ standings on 199 points and Charles Leclerc fifth on 179, both far behind leader Kimi Antonelli on 302. The full tables are on our F1 standings 2026 page.
Our view: the statement says as much about Ferrari as about Horner
A hastily arranged press call to answer a book interview shows how sensitive the subject is in Maranello. Ferrari could have ignored Horner’s comments. That it chose not to suggests the rumours were starting to reach the team itself. On paper the answer is clear: Vasseur has a contract, the backing of the board and a car that is second best this year. But Horner’s point about control is the real story. The Race writes that he wants the kind of authority he had at Red Bull, and Ferrari’s structure under Elkann and Vigna has never given a team principal that. As long as that does not change, the “dream” stays a dream.
Is Vasseur the right man to end Ferrari’s title drought, or would you rather see Horner in Maranello? Tell us in the comments.
Sepang is next
Ferrari’s next chance to change the conversation comes this weekend at Sepang, where the relocated Bahrain Grand Prix is held from 2 to 4 October. Read our Bahrain GP 2026 at Sepang guide for start times and the circuit, and follow every session on the RNT live blog.
