Villeneuve: Vasseur under threat at Ferrari, a big decision looms

Ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, Villeneuve pointed to Ferrari’s volatile history of leadership changes and suggested that Vasseur may be next in line for the axe following recent tensions with the Italian media and underwhelming on-track performances thanks to the disappointing SF25. A car that does neither Lewis Hamilton nor Charles Leclerc any favours.

Villeneuve told the media team at BetVictor: “Fred Vasseur is under threat. It's Ferrari. It's logical. It's his third year already. That’s normally when team principals at Ferrari get the chop. That's what happened to Vettel, Alonso, Prost, Mansell. How it works at Ferrari.”

Vasseur’s tenure, which began after replacing Mattia Binotto at the end of 2022, has seen moments of promise, but Ferrari’s inconsistent form in 2025 and his escalating feud with Italian journalists have reignited the narrative of instability at the top of Formula 1’s greatest team.

“There is a big decision to be made at Ferrari, but there's no surprise there. He was active in taking Mattia Binotto’s spot. So he should expect it to happen to him as well. He's been part of that,” Villeneuve added.

Villeneuve also suggested a potential successor. The current Head of Endurance Racing at Ferrari recently guided the marque to its first Le Mans victory in decades, and winning this year's edition made it three in a row, further raising his profile within the organisation.

“In the background, you have Antonello Coletta, who has had all the Le Mans success. That makes sense,” Villeneuve remarked. “But would Coletta want it? First of all, can Coletta say no if he's offered it? And if he can't say no, would he be much happier to say no?”

Reflecting on Ferrari’s leadership legacy, Villeneuve said: “It's like walking on charcoal, being a team principal at Ferrari. It's always been like that. The only time that wasn’t like that was during the Jean Todt years, because they were winning everything with Ferrari.

"Then you had Stefano Domenicali, who stayed there quite a while. He was very good at keeping the whole Ferrari team calm. But after that it stopped. Once Stefano went it became really, really chaotic, more than ever," recalled the 1997 F1 World Champion.

With Ferrari increasingly talking about building towards the 2026 rules overhaul, Villeneuve warned that such long-term deflection won’t placate fans or the Italian press.

“Of course they would care. It's too easy to say we’re focusing only on 2026. No, that doesn't exist. Ferrari without a win? That's a tough one. You need to understand Italy and Ferrari to realise how important that is,” he said.

He was also critical of Ferrari’s persistent habit of overpromising and failing to deliver: “Teams that push the hype, build up the expectation, build up the image, and the value. But then they never learn because they do it every year. They’ve said the year before, they said, this will be the fastest car ever, and then it was awful. They keep doing that. I don't know why.”

Vasseur has publicly received backing from drivers Leclerc and Hamilton in recent weeks, but Villeneuve’s stark assessment echoes a wider sentiment that pressure inside Maranello is reaching a familiar boiling point. He is not alone in saying that a "big decision" is looming at the Scuderia. Watch this space!