Ferrari chaos could cost Vasseur his job, is Horner his successor?

With no formal word from Ferrari on whether Vasseur’s contract will be renewed beyond the current season and amid Horner's dismissal, 1997 Formula 1 World Champion Villeneuve was blunt in his assessment of the situation: “The team principal at Ferrari is always under threat. That's the name of the game.

"When you accept going to Ferrari, you know that you're walking on fire, you're walking on eggs. It's always a risky proposition. And if you take that job, which puts you in the limelight, you have to accept the consequences, which means it's easy to just be chopped.”

Villeneuve said Vasseur’s recent results may have bought him time, but not safety: “The last few races probably protected him a bit. But the wind changes so quickly at Ferrari," Villeneuve told Vision4Sport.

Perhaps causing the delay in negotiations is that Horner is now available. Ferrari bosses have never denied they more than once tapped him up for the Formula 1 top job at Maranello. Each time the long-serving Red Bull boss.

Asked who might be able to handle the unique pressure of the Ferrari job should Vasseur depart, Villeneuve named a high-profile alternative: “Horner to Ferrari would be an interesting one.

"He's been solid, doesn't seem to have been very affected by pressure, even in tough times. So, he might well be one that could be able to shoulder Ferrari," ventured Villeneuve.

The former Williams and BAR driver warned that the culture at Ferrari places every leader in a precarious position. “You live under constant pressure, and you have to accept it from the media, from everyone and you complain about it because a team principal there is always one who managed to remove his predecessor. There's always a lot of politics. So, if it happens to Vasseur there should not be any surprise.”

Beyond the leadership speculation, Villeneuve pointed to systemic communication issues between Ferrari’s drivers and engineers, describing an atmosphere of dysfunction.

The Canadian continued: “That is all the chaotic energy inside the team which is not helpful. All that is just chaotic energy inside the thing that is not easy. Then there’s the way the engineers communicate with the driver, you can hear it over the radio.

"It's as if they're a different team. There is no chemistry. It’s the same with Lewis which is understandable maybe because he's new to the team. But there's zero chemistry, zero communications, nothing constructive when you listen to the races.”

Villeneuve said the tension is especially affecting Charles Leclerc. “It looks like Lewis is getting the hang of it, and is starting to figure out the car. And that's putting Leclerc in a very bad spot. And you can hear it in his comments on the radio that it's a very stressful situation for Leclerc as well.”

Having listened closely to Ferrari’s recent team radio exchanges, Villeneuve didn’t hold back: “In the last few races when I was listening to some of the exchanges, I thought, ‘Wow, how would I have reacted if I'd been the driver?’ With this kind of communication, I would have gone ballistic.”

His verdict was clear: “Something needs to be done to clean up the Ferrari house a bit.”