Fred Vasseur reveals how his friendship with Toto Wolff has changed since becoming F1 rivals

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Fred Vasseur’s Ferrari contract renewal means that he and close friend Toto Wolff will continue to be Formula 1 rivals for a few more years.

The Frenchman joined the Scuderia back in early 2023, tasked with ending what were a 16-year drivers’ and 15-year constructors’ championship drought.

Ferrari have shown signs of promise across that period, but Vasseur came under pressure as recently as this year’s Canadian Grand Prix, following a missed opportunity to win for Charles Leclerc.

Close friend Toto Wolff, team boss at Mercedes, knows a lot about the expectation to win, but his advice may not be as strong as it once was, now that they’re the top dogs at two of Formula 1’s top three teams.

Wolff teased Max Verstappen’s ‘greedy’ manager recently, which shows how many mind games are played among the faster teams. It’s harder for that game to be played with Vasseur.

Meanwhile, Vasseur was upset with ‘absolutely nonsense’ Ferrari rumours about Leclerc’s future in red. He had expected that it would arrive at some point.

READ MORE: Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur reacts to Lewis Hamilton’s race-ending crash at the Dutch Grand Prix

Fred Vasseur reveals how Toto Wolff friendship has changed since becoming F1 rivals

Lewis Hamilton needs Vasseur to copy Wolff and protect him from harmful psychological ruts, which can negatively impact his performance.

When he was at Mercedes, his boss was great at keeping him in a positive space, even if results weren’t exactly going his way.

Despite stealing his driver at the end of his career, Vasseur has explained how his friendship with Wolff has changed since the start of 2022, when he was still at Sauber.

“We always try to keep the two aspects completely separate,” he said. “The friend relationship that we can have, and the fight on track. It’s true that when I was at Sauber, the fight on track, it was not every single weekend.

“We had the beginning of 2022, but it was the last one. Today, we are fighting, we are also more fighting on the recruitment.

“But, I think we are clever enough I hope, we are clever enough to keep the last 25 years of friendly relationship in mind and even if we are fighting on Sunday or Saturday, to know that Monday morning we can start from scratch.”

READ MORE: Toto Wolff shares what he text Frederic Vasseur after hearing Lewis Hamilton was joining Ferrari

Why 2026 will be a new test for Fred Vasseur and Toto Wolff’s friendship

With the 2026 F1 regulations approaching quickly, there’s always going to be a chance that Ferrari and Mercedes could end up as title rivals again.

It has been seven years since they had a proper battle with Sebastian Vettel in the car. Vasseur has faith in Loic Serra to build a title-winning car at his first try.

He’s another valuable piece that he poached from Mercedes, but his addition could be vital for his team’s hopes of competing.

Meanwhile, we’re into September and Wolff hasn’t even officially confirmed his driver line-up yet. There are positive signs on the power unit front, though.

The Silver Arrows aren’t expected to enjoy the same level of advantage they had at the start of the 2014 rules, but they might be the front-runners when it comes to power.