"It is not all in my hands": Fred Vasseur claims outside noise leading to errors from Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur said he can't control the outside noise affecting the team, with drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc making mistakes. The entire F1 Canadian GP race weekend was initially overshadowed by reports of Vasseur's position at the team being in danger.

Multiple reports were published heading into the race weekend, where it was suggested that Ferrari senior management had lost faith in Vasseur. He only had limited races to show improvement, and if that didn't happen, his position was in danger.

At the same time, Leclerc was starting to lose confidence in the team and was looking at exit clauses for 2026, while Hamilton felt he wasn't being listened to. When the rumors were shared with both the drivers and the Ferrari boss ahead of the weekend, there was unanimous opposition to the same.

Vasseur even attacked the media, claiming that this only destabilizes things. As the weekend continued, Ferrari had one of the more underwhelming races. Charles Leclerc crashed out in FP1 and had to sit out in FP2. Then his error in qualifying meant he started the race too far back to be a factor.

Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, had a steady weekend, but hitting a groundhog meant that the driver damaged his car and couldn't do much after his first stop.

Talking to Motorsport, Fred Vasseur was questioned about the off-track attacks, to which the Frenchman admitted that they were having an impact on the team. Pointing to driver errors (specifically from Charles Leclerc in Canada), he said:

"I don't want to go back to what I said in the past few days. I don't think the climate around the team can help us. We are not under pressure but there is tension. When you are in such a close battle, all this is not good for the team, nor for the drivers. They make too many mistakes and so do we. There is a need for calm and tranquility, but it is not all in my hands".

Fred Vasseur asserts he still has the backing from Ferrari

When questioned if he still has the faith of Ferrari, Fred Vasseur asserted he had never lost it. The team boss said the faith was not a problem, but everyone had to focus on pushing in the same direction. Calling for more calm and serenity from both outside and inside, he said:

"Yes yes, it's not a problem. This is a problem that doesn't exist. The important thing is that everyone pushes in the same direction, but even more we need serenity. I don't want to have to fight with everyone internally and externally. We want to fight as a team. We know that we won't do a perfect job every weekend. We saw Mercedes, who struggled enormously in the last few weekends, but it's not like they made a revolution."

He added:

"They had three difficult weekends, but they continued to work, develop and today they were successful. We also have to do it this way. We are second in the World Championship, it's not the end of the world. We have to continue to do our job".

After the race in Canada, the Italian team has fallen behind Mercedes in the championship. It is third in the standings.