Ferrari chairman John Elkann defends team boss Fred Vasseur after Christian Horner speculation
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Ferrari's team principal Frederic Vasseur (left) and Ferrari CEO John Elkann at the Austrian Grand Prix on July 2, 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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AUSTIN, Texas – Ferrari chairman John Elkann issued a statement of support for team boss Fred Vasseur on Oct 18 in a bid to end speculation about his future.
Italian news media have speculated that the Scuderia are interested in offering former Red Bull boss Christian Horner, dismissed in July after two decades of success, a return to Formula One.
Elkann said: “I want to express our full confidence in our team principal, Fred Vasseur, and in the work he is carrying out together with all our colleagues at Scuderia Ferrari – the mechanics, engineers and drivers competing this weekend in Austin.
“I also want to reaffirm the importance of teamwork by everyone to maintain focus on the only goal that matters: Always giving our very best on the track.”
His statement came just two days after Ferrari’s drivers, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, had fielded questions on Horner
“I mean, I don’t know whether I can really shed much light on that, but it’s a little bit distracting for us as a team,” Hamilton said.
“Obviously, the team have made it clear where they stand in terms of re-signing Fred, and Fred and I and the whole team are working really hard on the future for the team. So these things, naturally, aren’t helpful.”
Leclerc said: “There are lots of speculation around me, but just in general around the team for whatever reason. I feel like there are too many people speaking things not coming from actual facts and it’s just a little bit annoying.”
Heading into the US Grand Prix’s main race, which took place after press time, Ferrari were without a win this season, with Hamilton yet to claim his first podium finish for the team who last won the constructors’ crown in 2008 and the drivers’ title in 2007.
In qualifying on Oct 18, Leclerc and Hamilton finished third and fifth respectively. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen clinched pole position, with McLaren’s Lando Norris behind him.
Norris’ teammate and drivers’ championship leader Oscar Piastri was sixth. Mercedes’ George Russell, who won the previous race in Singapore, starts fourth.
In the sprint race that took place before qualifying, Verstappen made the most of a first-corner accident between the two McLaren drivers – labelled a “racing incident” by Piastri – to clinch victory.
The Australian’s car was hit by Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg at the first corner and pitched onto Norris, who had been on the front row and was chasing Verstappen. It forced both McLaren drivers to retire from the sprint race.
The safety car was deployed, with debris across the track at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, and the collision became the day’s main talking point.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg crashing into McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who then hit teammate Lando Norris, at the start of the sprint race at the Formula One United States Grand Prix on Oct 18.
PHOTO: Getty Images via AFP
“I think it is just a racing incident. Lando and I were a long way away from the apex and it’s impossible to see everything at that point,” said Piastri.
“You have to trust your gut and your instinct, and that’s what I did.”
Norris retired by the side of the track and Piastri entered the pits with a broken suspension.
“That was terrible. Neither of our drivers to blame there,” McLaren chief executive Zak Brown told Sky Sports television while the race was still going on.
“That’s some amateur-hour driving by some drivers up there at the front, whacked out two guys.”
After looking at video replays, the American changed his tune however, saying that he “can’t really put that on Nico”.
Team principal Andrea Stella told reporters after qualifying that some very experienced drivers should have shown more prudence.
Norris refused to blame Piastri when reporters asked if he felt the Australian was overambitious in cutting back aggressively at the tight first corner with two cars on the inside.
“He got hit, no? He got hit, right? So why is it his fault?” he asked.
The incident was the second successive weekend of contact between the McLaren pair, with Norris forcing Piastri wide in Singapore, which triggered talk of consequences and repercussions,
