Fred Vasseur ‘targeted’ with Christian Horner links due to one thing he has never done at Ferrari

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Ferrari F1 team principal Fred Vasseur has already survived the threat of being sacked once this year, but Christian Horner is now widely being tipped as a likely replacement.

The Scuderia have produced far from the year that they envisaged the 2025 F1 season being before a wheel had turned in anger. Vasseur thought 2025 could be the year in which Ferrari won their first drivers’ championship since 2007 and their first constructors’ title since 2008.

Yet Lewis Hamilton is due to register the worst year of his career during his first season with Ferrari. The 40-year-old is out of contention to win the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship, as he trails McLaren rival Oscar Piastri by 211 points with 174 available during the final six rounds.

Charles Leclerc also trails Piastri by 163 points ahead of the United States Grand Prix, where there will be the fourth Sprint of this year’s six. The Monegasque has also secured all five of Ferrari’s Grand Prix podiums and only pole position. Ferrari are yet to win a Grand Prix, too.

Fred Vasseur’s refusal to copy Mattia Binotto’s approach to the Italian press is fuelling the Christian Horner links

So, even as soon as June’s Canadian Grand Prix in round 10 out of the 24, claims surfaced in the Italian press that Vasseur had three races to save his job with Ferrari. His contract was due to expire at the end of this year, and Ferrari’s results had embarrassed the pride of Italy.

READ MORE: Who is Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur? Everything you need to know

But Vasseur signed a new Ferrari contract through 2027 in July, which was expected to quell the speculation surrounding the Frenchman’s future in red. Yet it is now being reported that Ferrari could replace Vasseur with Horner, as chairman John Elkann lost faith in the former.

The truth of those reports has now come into question, however. AS Web claims Vasseur is being ‘targeted’ by certain individuals in the Italian media who are ‘not happy’ with the 57-year-old, with Horner finalising his exit from Red Bull in September fuelling the speculation.

Vasseur has upset a few veteran Italian journalists as he has never offered them the ‘special’ bonus information that Mattia Binotto provided during his tenure in charge of Ferrari. Some Italian journalists even hold a grudge with how Ferrari dismissed Binotto at the end of 2022.

What Ferrari ‘sources’ are saying about Christian Horner replacing Fred Vasseur

Elkann chose Vasseur as Binotto’s replacement at Ferrari ahead of the 2023 F1 season. But a mixture of the Scuderia’s endless woes in the 2025 season and Horner’s availability after 20 years in charge of Red Bull has fuelled the speculation that Vasseur’s future is again unclear.

READ MORE: Who is Sauber and Audi F1 chief Mattia Binotto? Everything to know

But AS Web notes that its ‘sources’ at Ferrari have stated that there is currently no move for Horner to replace Vasseur on the cards in Maranello. The Scuderia are striving to play down the reports indicating that the Briton is being lined up to potentially replace the Frenchman.

Yet Vasseur will know that he cannot rest on his laurels that Elkann will honour the contract he only signed in July to stay with Ferrari through at least 2027. The Scuderia being the only one of F1’s top four teams without a win in 2025, with six rounds to go, will create pressure.