Charles Leclerc reveals drastic measures to avoid “silly” Fred Vasseur Ferrari rumours

Charles Leclerc has revealed he has turned off social media to avoid the “silly rumours” surrounding the future of Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Fred Vasseur. 

Rampant speculation has surrounded Vasseur’s position amid a tough run of form for Ferrari and recent comments from former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who has opened the door to a shock move to the Italian outfit, which he described as being “the dream”. 

Ferrari took the unusual step of publicly backing Vasseur during a media call in the build up to this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, while Lewis Hamilton made a passionate defence for Vasseur. 

Such was the magnitude of the rumours, Leclerc opted for a drastic social media blackout to ignore them. 

"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.

"But at the end of the day, this is something that we have little control over, and we've got to maximise our results anyway.”

Like Hamilton, Leclerc offered his full support to Vasseur. 

“I think it's very clear the relationship I have with Fred but it goes a lot further than that. It's not only about a relationship but it's also about his capabilities and I think he's exceptional at what he does and I fully trust in Fred,” the Monegasque added. 

“Inside the team it's always been extremely clear that Fred has always had the support but for whatever reason, every three or four years there are those crazy rumours around the team. I've been [with the team for] quite a few years so I'm unfortunately getting used to these kinds of events.

“It's not easy and I don't think it's respectful either because we are all here trying to do our absolute best – sometimes we will do mistakes and sometimes we will do great things. But for people to take the opportunity whenever there's something that we could have done slightly better to start those rumours is just not nice.

“But one thing is sure – Fred has got all our support and we are very proud of having him with us inside the team and I hope that we can bring the team back on top as soon as possible in order to stop those silly rumours.”