The gap between what Ferrari’s chief executive said and what he did not say is the real story out of Maranello this week. Benedetto Vigna defended his team principal, dismissed the rumours of a rift, and endorsed the current project. He did not confirm that Fred Vasseur will lead the team through 2027.

Vigna had chosen to go public precisely to shut the speculation down. He told Motorsport.com Italia that he had been having dinner with Vasseur while reading online that the pair could not stand each other, and he brushed that version of events aside.

“The trust in Fred is there and has always been there,” Vigna said, according to Motorsport.com.

He framed the slump in results as a problem to be solved rather than a reason to change leadership.

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“Our rivals have done a better job. But the laws of physics are immutable, which means it can be done better,” he said.

No 2027 endorsement, just a statement of fact

Vasseur’s current deal, extended by Ferrari on 31 July 2025, runs until at least the end of 2027. That is also the year Formula 1 switches to a new engine and chassis formula, the biggest technical reset in a decade and the one Ferrari has staked its recovery on. Confirming Vasseur as the man who will lead that reset would have been the natural next line in Vigna’s defence.

He did not deliver it. Vigna confirmed Vasseur’s current standing, but offered no public commitment to the team principal beyond the end of his existing contract, per Yahoo Sports’ report from his trackside appearance.

Ferrari insiders have been more direct in private. PlanetF1 reported in late September that the team has drawn up a succession list, with WEC boss Antonello Coletta identified as the leading internal candidate and deputy team principal Jerome d’Ambrosio seen as a possible promotion from within. According to that reporting, Ferrari has approached Coletta before and been turned down more than once.

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Vasseur: ‘Sometimes the attacks are a bit personal’

Vasseur has heard the noise and said so himself at Sepang.

“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,” he told reporters at the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was held at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia on 2-4 October, via Formula1.com.

“Sometimes the attacks are a bit personal, and this is not good.”

His drivers backed him in the same paddock. Charles Leclerc called the gossip “not nice” and “disrespectful.” Lewis Hamilton described Vasseur as a “fantastic leader,” while leaving the door open to structural changes elsewhere in the organization.

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The speculation picked up after Red Bull’s former team principal Christian Horner told The Times that Ferrari would be a “dream job,” and it intensified when the results did not improve. Vigna’s intervention this week was designed to close the file. The absence of a 2027 commitment is why the file is still open.

Ferrari’s next race is the Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay on 9-11 October, with Vasseur still running the pit wall.

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