Fred Vasseur admits he ‘underestimated’ how much one of his 2025 decisions would hurt Ferrari staff

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Fred Vasseur confessed to having mixed emotions after Ferrari’s qualifying showing at the United States Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc was third, with Lewis Hamilton fifth.

Leclerc’s result was Ferrari’s best in any competitive session since the summer break. They also had both cars in the top five in Saturday’s Sprint.

That came after a difficult Friday qualifying session in which Hamilton was eighth and the Monegasque was 10th. The Scuderia have slipped to fourth in the pecking order recently.

Ferrari had previously identified Azerbaijan and Singapore as opportunities to end their 2025 victory drought, but they weren’t a factor in either weekend.

Fred Vasseur says stopping 2025 development had ‘psychological’ impact on Ferrari staff

Speaking to Canal+ after qualifying, Vasseur admitted that Ferrari are in a ‘frustrating’ position at the moment. Indeed, Danica Patrick thought Hamilton and Leclerc sounded ‘defeated’ on Friday.

Vasseur explained that he took the decision to cut off Ferrari’s development ‘very early’ in the season. The team introduced multiple upgrades before the summer break, most notably a new rear suspension in Belgium, but none of these had a major impact.

While developments were still arriving in July, these had been commissioned months earlier. Meanwhile, Mercedes and, to great effect, Red Bull have continued to chase performance.

• READ MORE: Ferrari have chosen their new ‘scapegoat’ after backing Fred Vasseur amid Christian Horner links

Vasseur hopes Ferrari will see the benefit next year, having prioritised the transformative regulation changes. But in the short term, his team has incurred unforeseen ‘psychological’ pain.

“Satisfied? Yes and no,” Vasseur said. “Yes, because we’re back. No, because I think we could have done better.

“The situation is frustrating because we stopped development very early. And I underestimated the psychological aspect of doing 17 races without anything. This result feels good.”

Where Christian Horner stands on replacing Fred Vasseur

On Saturday, Ferrari chairman John Elkann publicly backed Vasseur. This came after Elkann ‘flirted’ with Christian Horner, now out of work after a richly successful 20 years at Red Bull.

Leclerc says Ferrari are surrounded by rumours at the moment, not just concerning their boss. His own future beyond 2026 has been called into question.

According to The Race, Horner has ‘no interest’ in becoming Ferrari team principal. He would want a more powerful position akin to a chief executive, but the consensus is that they won’t depart from their traditional structure.