Ferrari’s team principal could not escape the question in Baku. Every microphone at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix pointed him back to the same subject, and eventually Fred Vasseur gave up dressing it up.
“We are not working in perfect serenity,” Vasseur told reporters after the race, adding that roughly half of every media session was being eaten by speculation about his own job.
“It’s a bit of a frustrating situation.”
The trigger was an interview Christian Horner gave to The Times in late September. Asked whether he would consider returning to Formula 1, Horner named only one team: Ferrari.
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“Ferrari is the biggest brand in Formula 1. It’s the dream. And arguably it’s the sleeping giant of Formula 1.”
Horner has repeatedly said he will only return to F1 with an ownership stake attached. Ferrari, he told the newspaper, is the exception.
“At this stage in my life, there’s only one team for which I would accept non-participation in ownership.”
Horner was removed as Red Bull team principal and chief executive after the 2025 British Grand Prix, ending a 20-year run in Milton Keynes. He has been treated as a floating asset in the paddock ever since.
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Ferrari’s leadership drawing up a succession plan
Vasseur, in his fourth season at Ferrari after joining from Sauber in 2023, signed a multi-year extension last year. That has not stopped reports that Ferrari’s senior leadership is preparing to change team principal after this season.
F1 photographer and paddock insider Kym Illman, speaking on the Paddock Access podcast, said the intention is to move Vasseur sideways rather than remove him from Maranello altogether.
“They’re going to phase him out, still keep him in the business.”
SPORTbible cited that podcast in framing Horner as the “prime candidate” to take over. Neither Ferrari nor Horner has confirmed any contact.
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Ferrari’s on-track form is not helping Vasseur. The Scuderia finished fourth and sixth in Baku and has now gone five races without a podium, sitting second in the constructors’ standings but 160 points adrift of leaders Mercedes.
“Mr Horner is looking for a job”
Vasseur’s own words have carried an edge. Pressed directly on Horner’s manoeuvring, the Frenchman was blunt.
“Mr Horner is looking for a job. Everybody knows, everywhere.”
Asked whether he could imagine working alongside Horner in a restructured Ferrari, Vasseur deflected with a joke.
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“You have to ask my assistant.”
Multiple reports have read that as a clear no. GPblog’s sources have gone further, suggesting there would be no realistic alternative role for Vasseur inside Ferrari if Horner were appointed principal.
Coletta and d’Ambrosio also in the frame
Horner is not the only candidate being discussed. Reports have consistently named Antonello Coletta, who heads Ferrari’s endurance racing programme, as the internal frontrunner. Current deputy team principal Jérôme d’Ambrosio, previously part of Toto Wolff’s setup at Mercedes, has also been floated as the option that would allow the smoothest handover.
Vasseur’s contract runs beyond 2026, and Ferrari has made no public move to end it. Any decision on the team principal role would come from chairman John Elkann after the season finale in Abu Dhabi on 6 December.
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Sources: – [2026 F1 constructors standings after Azerbaijan GP](https://racingnews365.com/2026-f1-championship-standings-after-azerbaijan-grand-prix-at-baku) – [Sky Sports, Horner “dream” Ferrari role](https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/13591649/) – [PlanetF1, Vasseur succession plan](https://www.planetf1.com/news/fred-vasseur-ferrari-future-succession-plan)
