Fred Vasseur has addressed his recently signed contract extension with Ferrari to retain his position as team principal, explaining that it has been good to put the rumours of his exit behind him to keep stability in the team.
Rumours began to emerge from several Italian media outlets ahead of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, suggesting that the Frenchman was on his way out of the Maranello outfit – claims which Vasseur and drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc firmly shot down at the time.
After the rumours died down, Ferrari announced a multi-year contract extension for Vasseur on 31 July.
“My job is probably the most exciting position in the paddock. If you’re able to win in F1, it is mega, but to win with Ferrari is something very exciting,” Vasseur explained in an interview with F1.com.
“It’s a good step into the process. We had a couple of discussions and there were some rumours in the press the last couple of weeks. It’s not easy for the stability of the team and for the mood of the team but now this is behind us. It’s important. It’s a good step.
“We have to be ready for the last part of the season. We are fighting with Mercedes and Red Bull for P2 and we want to win some races until the end. The 2026 project is a huge challenge that we have to be all fully aligned and all together to manage it.”
Vasseur, who joined the historic team at the beginning of 2023, argued that it will take time to get the team back to its championship-winning days.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images
“I’m really convinced that it’s taking time,” he added. “It’s taking time at Ferrari, but everywhere in general, if you have a look at the good story of F1 that when Christian [Horner] joined Red Bull or when Jean [Todt] joined Ferrari, before all these good success stories [it] took time before the first win.
“You need a couple of years to build up a team, to recruit people that you want to have with you, and then it takes also time to work together. We want to be very agile in F1, but the reality is that we have a lot of inertia.”
In this article
Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics
