Ferrari CEO John Elkann has taken the unusual step of declaring his "full confidence" in Formula 1 team principal Fred Vasseur.
Ferrari is enduring a disappointing 2025 F1 campaign in which it is winless that has also featured repeated rumours about Vasseur's future.
Suggestions around the time of the Canadian Grand Prix that Vasseur's job was under threat were robustly denied and in July, just before the mid-season summer break, Ferrari announced it had extended his contract for several years.
That put to bed the speculation for a while but more recently, as difficulties have mounted on track, there have been some renewed stories surrounding the team.
This has included media reports in the aftermath of the Singapore Grand Prix that Ferrari has been in talks with former Red Bull boss Christian Horner about him becoming team principal in 2026.
The Race understands, however, that while Horner has had contact with a senior representative from Ferrari, there has been no discussion about a role at Maranello.
Furthermore, sources are clear that Horner has no interest in becoming team principal at Ferrari, having famously turned down the job once before when Elkann visited his house back in 2022.
Horner's focus is on returning to F1 as part of an ownership structure at a team, which could even include him being part of a consortium that enters a brand new squad.
Despite the Horner speculation appearing to be wide of the mark, Elkann unexpectedly issued a statement on the Saturday of the United States GP to fully put to bed the issue in which he made it clear Vasseur had his backing.
The move is in contrast to what happened when the speculation around Vasseur erupted in Canada, when Ferrari's senior management kept totally quiet as it did not wish to comment on rumours.
Speaking at an event in Washington on Saturday, Elkann (above left) 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."
Elkann's backing comes a few days after seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, whose first season at Ferrari has not lived up to expectations, said that the Horner stories had been an unwelcome distraction.
"I don't know where the rumours have come from, so I can't really shed much light on that," he said. "But it's a little bit distracting for us as a team.
"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.
"These things naturally aren't helpful. Everyone back at the factory is working incredibly hard, [is] focused, and these sort of rumours can sometimes be distracting.
"For me, it's really [about] trying to keep the focus on the goal that's in front of us and building on next year's car, really continuing to build a foundation on this year so that next year we can have better execution, better overall performance."
