Charles Leclerc has called out the disrespectful rumors around Fred Vasseur’s future with Ferrari, as the driver made it perfectly clear where his allegiance was going to be. The position of the team boss has been under contention in the last few races as multiple publications have reported on tensions within the team.
The Ferrari racing unit has not been a happy place in the second half of the 2026 F1 season. It all began with Lewis Hamilton calling out Fred Vasseur for a lack of decisiveness when it came to battles with teammate Charles Leclerc.
This was followed by the Ferrari duo coming together on track in Monza. On the very first lap of the race, as the pair battled for position, Charles Leclerc pushed Lewis Hamilton off the track and into the gravel, further escalating the tensions between the pair.
Recently, however, an interview by Christian Horner in which he expressed interest in making a return to F1 with Ferrari sparked rumors of a potential exit for Fred Vasseur as the former Red Bull boss takes his place.
In between the race weekends, the Italian team held a press conference reaffirming faith in the team boss and that he would continue to be a part of the team.
The reports have certainly found a way to Charles Leclerc, who has quashed these suggestions and called out the lack of respect in the sport. Talking to Canal+, the driver said,
“I’ve removed social media from my phone, so I don’t see much of what’s going on. Obviously, you hear people talking, and many people in the team know what’s going on. This isn’t good for the team’s serenity, even though in the end it’s something we have little control over and we just need to maximize our results. In the factory, we absolutely need everyone to push in the same direction. By definition, when there are these rumors you end up wasting time talking about them instead of focusing on the right things.
He added,
“It’s never good, and it’s simply ugly to see. we’re all trying to do our best, Fred first and foremost, pushing ourselves to the limit. I find it a bit disrespectful to see so many rumors. it’s part of our job to accept criticism, but when you keep spreading these things over and over again, at a certain point it becomes disrespectful.”
Charles Leclerc backs Fred Vasseur and puts his faith in the team boss
Charles Leclerc further put his faith behind Fred Vasseur and said that he backed the French boss to achieve success with the team. The 2026 has not been the best for the squad, where the power unit deficit has meant that the car has been only able to win just a couple of races.
There’s a likelihood as well that Ferrari could potentially face a threat of losing its P2 position in the Constructors’ Championship if McLaren continues to surge, but it would be interesting to see how the Italian team responds to the upgrades brought by the rivals.
Charles Leclerc, on his part, is continuing to back Fred Vasseur as the team boss, as he said,
“I think it’s very clear the relationship that I have with Fred, but it goes obviously a lot further than that, and 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 have full trust in Fred.”
He 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 rumors around the team, and I’ve been quite a few years with the team, so I’m getting used, unfortunately, to these kinds of events, and it’s not respectful either, because we are all here trying to do our absolute best, and sometimes we all do mistakes, and sometimes we all do great things, but for people to take the opportunity whenever there’s something that we could have done slightly better to just start those rumors is just not nice.”
With the team looking ahead to a more challenging race weekend in Malaysia, it would be interesting to see how it tackles what can only be described as noise at this point.
