Leclerc deletes social media to escape 'silly' Vasseur rumours threatening Ferrari's serenity

Charles Leclerc has deleted every social media application from his phone in an effort to insulate himself from what he calls “silly rumours” about Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur, speaking to media ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

Speculation over Vasseur’s position at Maranello has been building in recent weeks, prompting the Frenchman to acknowledge after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that Ferrari was not functioning with its usual “serenity”. Ferrari’s management subsequently released a public statement backing their team principal.

“Honestly, me personally, I took off everything that is social media,” Leclerc said. “So I don’t see much of what’s going on around. But of course, you hear about what’s going around and many people from the team know what’s going around, and that is not good for the serenity of the team, for sure.”

Despite his own efforts to tune out the noise, Leclerc was candid that the wider team has not been entirely shielded. “At the end of the day, this is something that we have little control over, and we’ve got to maximise our results anyway,” he added.

Leclerc was unequivocal in his personal support for Vasseur, describing their relationship as “very special” and pushing back on any suggestion the team chief’s position should be in doubt. “I’ve always said how much I trust Fred and how important he is for the team,” he said. “I think he’s extremely capable in what he does and he’s been extremely valuable so far, and he will be extremely valuable in the years to come as well.”

On the need for Ferrari’s public statement of support, Leclerc suggested it was more for external consumption than internal reassurance. “There was never any doubt inside the team that he has all of our support. Then sometimes it’s needed to make it clear to the outside world as well. But to me, that doesn’t really matter. I know where we stand inside the team, and that’s the most important thing.”

He closed with a pointed message for those fuelling the speculation: “I just wish that sometimes there were less of these silly rumours going around.”