A poll of Daily Express readers has found that less than half believe Frederic Vasseur should remain as Ferrari team principal for 2027, with a significant share backing Christian Horner to take over.
The Frenchman, who joined the Scuderia in 2023, has faced mounting speculation about his future in recent weeks. Ferrari's continued failure to secure a Formula One world championship has driven the rumours, while Horner's public declaration that he would like to return to F1 with the Italian team has added further fuel.
Speaking about his own future, Vasseur admitted it was “out of his hands” – a comment reminiscent of what his predecessor, Mattia Binotto, said in the months leading up to his exit. Binotto had also received a public vote of confidence from the Ferrari hierarchy, as Vasseur did last week.
Reader poll results
Given it has been one of the hottest topics of debate in the F1 world, the question was put to readers: who should lead Ferrari as team principal from 2027? Almost 1,500 responded.
Vasseur was chosen as the best candidate for the job next season by 684 (47 percent) of the 1,457 respondents. That means more than half picked one of the other two options, both of which explicitly called for Ferrari to drop Vasseur.
In total, 559 (38 percent) felt the right course of action would be to axe Vasseur and install Horner as their new team principal. However, that is hardly a resounding endorsement of the former Red Bull chief, given fewer than two-fifths of those who took part in the poll felt he was the right man for the job in 2027.
Other candidates and CEO's defence
The other 214 respondents (15 percent) said dropping Vasseur but replacing him with someone other than Horner would be the right way to go. Few other potential candidates for the role have been publicly named, though it is understood Antonello Coletta, the head of Ferrari's World Endurance Championship and sportscar programmes, would be a strong option.
Ferrari chief executive Benedetto Vigna was in Malaysia at the weekend, watching on as the team botched its tyre strategy at the beginning but recovered well, Lewis Hamilton recovering from 18th to finish on the podium while Charles Leclerc was fourth having been dead last at one point.
Vigna took the opportunity to explain why the team chose to publicly back Vasseur in the week leading up to the Sepang race. “The reality is that Fred and the Scuderia are determined and focused on what needs to be done,” he said. “Do we need to improve the car? Of course! Our rivals have done better. But the laws of physics are immutable, which means it can be done better.”
He also said rumours linking Horner with Vasseur's role were never “verified”, adding that the public message of support to Vasseur achieved its purpose as questions on the subject were much less frequent in Sepang compared to the weekend before in Baku.
