Vasseur slams Italian media reports: 'It's really hurting the team'

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur criticized the Italian outlets that reported about uncertainty regarding his future, stating such coverage is “really hurting the team.”

La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere della Sera ran reports suggesting Vasseur is under pressure after a disappointing start to the season for Ferrari, with the former also mentioning chassis technical director Loïc Serra in its piece. While the Serra mention did not call his future into question, Vasseur focused on the way team members are sometimes referenced in lashing out at the media reporting.

“First, I have to stay calm because I will have to visit the stewards [for swearing],” Vasseur said. “It’s some Italian media; it’s not all Italian media. It’s not about myself, because this I can manage. It’s more about the people of the team.

“To throw their names [around] like this, I think it's just disrespectful for them, for the family. And we had the case last year with the chief of aero already. We had some other names this season.

“I don't know the target. I don't understand the target. Perhaps it's to give s**t to the team, but in this case I don't see the point. Perhaps for them it’s the only way to exist. This is probably more the reason, but it's really hurting the team.

“At one stage it's the lack of focus [it creates]. When you are fighting for the championship, every single detail makes the difference, and from the beginning of the weekend we are just speaking about this.

“If it's their target to put the team in this situation, they reach their goal, but I think it's really... It's not like this that we will be able to win a championship – at least not with these kind of journalists around us.”

More Formula 1

McNish takes on Audi F1 racing director role

Turkish Grand Prix to return to F1 calendar in 2027

Brown says Horner F1 return would be a positive, more A-B teams not so much

Vasseur says he doesn’t mind the focus on himself because he's always been aware he could come under severe scrutiny at Ferrari. 

“I knew when I joined, when I took the position, that you are exposed," he said. "This, I think, is quite easy to manage.

“[This is about the team. They are] working very hard. To decide one day that, 'This one will be replaced, this one will be replaced, this one is useless...' Honestly, it's very, very harsh. 

“Because these journalists – I’m not putting everybody in the same basket – have to consider that these people, they have family, they have wives, they have kids. This is completely disrespectful.”

The team principal also suggested he would be meeting with the journalists who wrote the articles after the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, as he believes they do not appreciate the human aspect of reporting on team members.

“At one stage, we have to consider that the people who are in every single team on the grid, they are working all very hard, they are putting in all of their energy," he said. "Sometimes they're making some sacrifices for the family and so on. To put names like this on the paper, I think it's very, very harsh.

“You have to understand that when a journalist is saying that, ‘Ferrari will recruit this name for this position,’ there is someone who is in this position and on Sunday evening, the guy says, ‘OK, tomorrow morning I won't have a job anymore because, if what is in the newspaper is true, then I will have someone in my position.' It's the same for all the group working for the guy.

“We are in this situation on a daily basis now in Italy and too much is too much. Honestly, if they want [us] to be successful at one stage, we have also to be able to work in a clean environment, [which] we are not in this situation so far.”