Vasseur hits back at 'personal' attacks as Ferrari job speculation intensifies in Malaysia

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has broken his silence on the speculation surrounding his position at the Italian constructor, telling reporters at Sepang that attacks on his character had become “a bit personal” as rumours about his future continued to swirl heading into the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend.

The pressure on Vasseur has been building for days, intensified further when Red Bull’s Christian Horner publicly mused about his interest in the Ferrari role. The situation prompted Ferrari’s chief communications officer Maria Conti to issue a rare public statement of support at the end of September, confirming the team’s “full confidence in Fred Vasseur and in his team” and insisting the team’s “position is clear, has not changed, and Ferrari has made its choices already.”

Asked at Sepang why that statement had been necessary at all, Vasseur was direct: “When you see the noise and all the rumours in the press all the week, I think as a team we need to work in serenity and it was absolutely not the case. The statement was mandatory — it would have been the same this weekend otherwise.”

He added that the core concern was not the external noise itself, but its effect inside the garage. “The big issue that we have today is the stability, the serenity into the team, the focus that we need to have and not to have this kind of question all the day.”

On the personal nature of some of the criticism, Vasseur acknowledged the territory that comes with the job, while drawing a line at what he considered unfair targeting. “When you take the role, you know the positive and the negative side of the job,” he said. “I was expecting something like this, which is sometimes a bit unfair when you put someone under the bus — and I’m there also to defend my team, my guys.”

Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have publicly backed Vasseur during the Malaysian weekend, reaffirming their confidence in the Frenchman’s leadership.

Vasseur signed a multi-year contract extension with Ferrari only last year and is now in his fourth season running the Maranello operation. Despite Ferrari sitting second in the constructors’ standings and having claimed two race victories this season, a plateau in car development and questions over how Hamilton and Leclerc can be deployed effectively on track have fuelled fan discontent on social media and, evidently, a wider media storm that the team felt compelled to address publicly.