> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-race.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The pivotal choices Ferrari is now facing - URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-now-facing-pivotal-f1-choices/ - Published: 2026-09-07T20:38:39.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-07T20:38:39.000Z - Description: If the Italian GP result was disappointing for Ferrari, the fallout from the rest of the weekend amounts to a crisis. What next for F1 team and leader? - Author: Ben Anderson - Tags: Formula 1, #ferrari, #charles-leclerc, #lewis-hamilton, #primary_homepage_feature Ferrari faces significant challenges as its 2026 Formula 1 season spirals: there's disharmony in the driver line-up, and a growing list of problems concerning how the team is operating, while Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli have just delivered the most embarrassing of blows at Ferrari's home race. As the pressure and scrutiny mounts, what's next for the drivers, the team at large, and Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur - and how does ex-Red Bull Racing CEO Christian Horner potentially fit into this mess? As regards the drivers, Lewis Hamilton already made his feelings clear on what he feels [needs to change](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/here-there-are-no-rules-hamilton-calls-ferrari-out/) to get Ferrari back on the right track. In Q2 at the the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton made jibes about a lack of cooperation from Leclerc's side of the garage - which Hamilton felt almost led to a catastrophic elimination from the top-10 shootout, and there was clear disagreement about who was to blame for their Turn 1 incident in the race. Hamilton even made a point of defending his conduct since joining Ferrari, saying: "I've come into the team and tried to be respectful of space - and definitely not put the team in jeopardy. You have to speak to Fred about the other side." The clear inference being that Charles Leclerc is the problem here... So, has Ferrari lost control over its driver line-up? It certainly seems less harmonious than the Leclerc/Carlos Sainz combination that preceded it. Hamilton's resurgence in 2026 has potentially created a dynamic closer to the one Ferrari experienced with Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell back in 1989-90 - essentially two big beasts who want to have the team pulling for them. Leclerc probably thought he had Hamilton's number at the end of 2025, easily Hamilton's worst season in F1\. But this year Hamilton has come out swinging, driving far better and talking about how much of a stamp he's had on the new car for this season, and how much more in tune he is with the team. Does Leclerc sense a shift in the political dynamic behind the scenes, and a need therefore to reassert himself - to ensure Hamilton doesn't essentially take the team off him? Leclerc is publicly dismissive of the idea there is a polarisation between him and Hamilton, and said he doesn't know who's "forcing" this narrative, but the past two races at Monza and Zandvoort are indicative of a team that is struggling to deal with these two particular drivers when they are close together on track, and one needs to be compromised to help the other. It just so happens on both of these recent occasions it's been Hamilton needing help from Leclerc and that help has not been forthcoming. Is the lack of assertiveness from Ferrari in dealing with this indicative of a team that fears favouring one over the other? It does seem that way. After Monza, Vasseur used a rather spurious comparison with McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris from last year, saying if they'd favoured Piastri over Norris while Piastri was leading the standings then Max Verstappen would have snuck through to become champion, which completely ignores the fact McLaren still operated to its own 'Papaya rules'. As Hamilton said, Ferrari has no rules in that respect. Vasseur also maintains close relationships with both drivers. Is he paralysed between Ferrari's golden homegrown talent in Leclerc, and statistically the greatest F1 driver of all in Hamilton, whom Vasseur himself helped nurture in the junior categories? It does look from the outside like he's desperately trying to keep both parties happy while pleasing no one. It's a difficult position to be in, because Leclerc has also just recently agreed a new long-term contract with the team he's been tied to since he was a kid. That potentially makes him Ferrari's immoveable object - up against the irresistible force of F1's biggest and most marketable driver, suddenly once again driving at or near his best level. And if they're both performing at a high level there's no natural order of things on track to settle the matter, which adds pressure on Vasseur - as the man at the top - to make tough decisions that, so far, he seems to be avoiding. All the while the defeats stack up and Ferrari looks more exposed, which leads us to our next question: can Vasseur even survive this latest embarrassment? ## Will Vasseur pay the price? Hamilton was emphatic in the aftermath of Monza in singling out where change at Ferrari needs to come from: "Ultimately it comes from the top. It trickles down, decisions. And so, it starts with Fred." But this isn't Hamilton trying to throw Vasseur under the bus and kick start a hunt for a new team principal. It's instead a rallying call for Vasseur to assert his authority and make the changes Hamilton thinks are necessary for Ferrari to succeed. Hamilton understands the limit of his own influence, in "shouting repeatedly from the mountaintops", as he puts it. Ultimately, it's the team boss with the authority to shake things up. Hamilton understands that mistakes made in the battlefield - be it operational errors such as poor execution in qualifying, a strategy blunder in the race, or tension between drivers - are not primarily about the weaknesses of individuals. Instead, a team is a manifestation of the leadership structure put in place from the top: lines of reporting, lines of communications, who makes the decisions, and the quality of information that influence calls are all shaped from above. Fail to address deficits here and solutions only become plasters covering a wound. Cleaning this up all rests with Vasseur. The inference from Hamilton is Ferrari needs to start acting in a way that other big teams do. He feels the issues exposed in recent weeks require a proper reset if Ferrari is going to make the most of the remainder of this season. Ferrari's Monza trouble will undoubtedly have increased the pressure on Vasseur to take decisive action and address the concerns Hamilton is raising. And while Vasseur once again tried to brush off the disappointment, patience could be wearing thin after Ferrari, in Vasseur's words, "failed" the tifosi in the grandstands with such a limp performance in the Italian GP. Well-connected paddock sources suggest the optics of Monza - of a Ferrari disaster on the day Antonelli grabbed the hearts of the tifosi, in a Mercedes - have not gone down well with the Prancing Horse's top brass. The question now is whether this will trigger a review of Vasseur's position. There is certainly plenty of probing to do about many of the key decisions he's taken this year. Should Vasseur have fought harder to block the start procedure changes that wiped away the advantage his team gained with its smaller turbo? Was sacrificing ultimate engine power - through the turbo, operating temperatures and the exhaust wing - to boost chassis performance and game the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system the right route to take in this engine-dominated, energy-starved formula? Should Ferrari have laid down a code of conduct for its drivers and been more decisive to try to maximise its title chances? Even if the conclusion is that better results went begging this year and a change of boss longer term should come, Ferrari's senior chiefs will have to be sure they are bringing someone in who can do a better job and change things that Vasseur cannot. As Hamilton said, you cannot keep doing the same thing and expect results to change. Ferrari's World Endurance Championship boss Antonello Coletta has long been linked to the F1 role, and is obviously well-loved in Maranello circles. But there's no denying that the longer Horner remains on the sidelines, as [efforts to return](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/horner-in-talks-over-new-byd-f1-team-entry/) as a team owner or [shareholder](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-renaults-intervened-over-f1-team-sale-talks/) fail to materialise, the greater the chances of him considering Ferrari could be a realistic option. Horner turned down the Ferrari top job several years ago, despite a personal plea from Ferrari chairman John Elkann. Would Ferrari be prepared to ask him again to find out if this time the answer is different?