Carlos Sainz addresses reports of Fred Vasseur being in danger of getting fired at Ferrari

Carlos Sainz has addressed the reports of Fred Vasseur being in danger of losing his job at Ferrari down to the media being involved in a finger-pointing exercise. In reports that shocked the F1 paddock, multiple Italian publications shared that the team boss is in danger of losing his job.

The senior management which involves Benedetto Vigna and John Elkann are reportedly not happy with the trajectory that the team has been on this season and want better results. At the same time, the reports have stated that Charles Leclerc is starting to lose confidence in Ferrari's ability to win titles and could potentially be looking to exercise an exit clause if need be while Carlos Sainz's replacement at the team, Lewis Hamilton, has felt that he's not being listened to.

When it comes to Ferrari, this is not a new development as the team has continued to follow this trajectory far too many times since 2008. Failure has often led to bosses being handed the walking papers as names like Stefano Domenicali, Maurizio Arrivabene, and Mattia Binotto have faced the axe after a failed campaign.

The 2025 F1 season is the first time that Ferrari under Fred Vasseur has potentially taken a step back. The team is not doing as well as it should and to add to it, there were expectations that the car could be a potential title contender.

Last season, the team with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz driving the car scored the most points in the second half of the season and only lost the constructors title in the last race. This season was expected to be better but with that not being the case, questions have been asked and reports strongly indicate a potential change of guard as well.

The question of the reports indicating Fred Vasseur's future being in jeopardy was put to Carlos Sainz and the Spaniard felt that this was typical media 'finger-pointing'. He told the media including Motorsport Week,

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

He added,

“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.”

After Carlos Sainz's exit, Ferrari has managed to grab only 165 points from nine races and two sprints in 2025.

Carlos Sainz expected Ferrari to fight for the title in 2025

Carlos Sainz was also questioned about Ferrari's performance in the ongoing season. Sainz revealed that he expected Ferrari to be a title contender this season, especially after how the 2024 had ended. He said via Motorsport Week,

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

He added,

"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.”

Carlos Sainz also endured a poor start to his Williams stint but has recently stepped up by clinching points in four of the last five races. He is currently sitting in the 13th position in the drivers' standings with 12 points.