Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has conceded he has \u201cno clue\u201d how competitive the team will be next season following a disappointing 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n
Of the top four teams, it was Ferrari that walked away from Abu Dhabi with the biggest sense of disappointment having not won a race in a season for the first time since 2021.<\/p>\n
Fred Vasseur makes no claim on Ferrari performance ahead of 2026<\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s lack of performance will have come as extra disappointing for the Tifosi given how they ended 2024 plus a sense of pre-season optimism and the arrival of Lewis Hamilton.<\/p>\n
Instead, the team finished the year fourth in the standings, 435 points off winners McLaren, with Charles Leclerc in P5 and Hamilton one spot below.<\/p>\n
This has meant an increased expectation for 2026 with Leclerc admitting it was \u201cnow or never\u201d<\/a> but team principal Vasseur, who has faced questions about his future this year, conceded he had \u201cno clue\u201d where Ferrari would be in the pecking order.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no clue,\u201d he told media including PlanetF1.com in Abu Dhabi when asked about Ferrari\u2019s prospects. \u201cYou know perfectly that all sport is a comparison.<\/p>\n \u201cI can do a good job, if someone did a better job, I look stupid. And that means that we are focused on a project. We are developing the project, we are pushing at the limit, and we are trying to do the best.<\/p>\n More on Ferrari from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n PlanetF1.com 2025 Awards: Biggest Disappointment of the Season<\/a> \u201cFor sure, the more time you are spending on the project, the better you think it will be but I don\u2019t know if McLaren, Red Bull or Alpine is in front of us. This, nobody knows.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the most important [thing] is not to spend time to try to understand if the others are in front or behind.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked by PlanetF1.com specifically on Leclerc\u2019s comments, Vasseur played down any tension and suggested it was the natural response of a driver.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I think Charles, if you ever looked last year for sure, when you are going to the TV pen and you\u2019re asking him after the session, are you happy with the session when it\u2019s P2 or are you happy when it\u2019s P6? it\u2019s not the same Charles, for sure.<\/p>\n \u201cBut if you ask him the day after, what do you want to do with the team? I think the approach is always the same. It\u2019s always constructive, to try to do better and even if I\u2019m P1 I have exactly the same approach with the team on the Monday morning, when we are doing the debrief.<\/p>\n \u201cTo know and to understand where we can do better and it doesn\u2019t matter if you are P1 or P10. I think the debrief today at Alpine, Williams, at Red Bull, with us is the same. Is that we are just trying to do a better job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior engineer reveals Lewis Hamilton Ferrari struggles \u2018worse from the outside than reality\u2019<\/a>
\u2018Unbearable\u2019 Lewis Hamilton \u2018rage\u2019 under the spotlight as Fred Vasseur responds<\/a><\/p>\n