Carlos Sainz defends Fred Vasseur after rumours swirl about possible Ferrari exit

Carlos Sainz has defended under-fire Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur amid rumours that he could be replaced for next season.

Ferrari’s disappointing start to the 2025 F1 season has led to speculation in the Italian press that Vasseur’s contract might not be renewed.

Ferrari are already nearly 200 points behind McLaren in the constructors’ standings, putting pressure on Vasseur after a lacklustre start to the year.

Ferrari haven’t won a race since Mexico at the back-end of last year, with Charles Leclerc finishing in the top three just three times in nine races.

Ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, two reports from Italian outlets hinted that Vasseur could lose his job if things don’t pick up soon.

Ferrari have since confirmed to Crash.net that there’s no truth to report.

They have previously described links to Christian Horner as “fantasy”.

Sainz, who drove under Vasseur at Ferrari in 2023 and 2024, took aim at the media for “finger-pointing”.

“Same story as always, the moment that the results don’t click in Ferrari, there’s always finger-pointing by the media, and all this chaos happening,” he said as quoted by Motorsport Week.

“For me, it’s all about focusing on the process and delivering when it matters.

“But if you ask me, Fred, I have a great relationship with him. In the past, obviously, we went through a tough month where he didn’t want me and signed Lewis, but apart from that, we made peace about it, and I get on well, and I always rated him as a team principal and as a person.”

Sainz thought Ferrari would fight for 2025 F1 title

Ferrari ended last year as the second-fastest team, narrowly missing out on the constructors’ title to McLaren.

As a result, many expected Ferrari to be in a title fight with McLaren in 2025, particularly as Lewis Hamilton was joining the team.

Sainz admitted he thought Ferrari would be doing better following his departure.

“I can only talk about my time there when I left, and my feeling is that the team, the car, we felt like we were ready to fight for our championship,” he added.

“I thought, honestly, Ferrari could be in the fight for the championship this year. That’s what I communicated to Charles, [and] to the team. For me, everything was coming into place.

“I had zero involvement in the development of the 25’ cars, so I don’t know where they went with the balance, with the setup, and why they are struggling to get a result this year out of it.

“At the same time, probably, McLaren is just doing an excellent job. If McLaren is doing such a good job, then it doesn’t matter how good you do, there’s just someone performing at a very high level with two super strong drivers and doing very, very good in F1 right now, and that is McLaren.”