31/07/2025 17:45
Charles Leclerc has highlighted the critical reason why Fred
Vasseur was handed a new multi-year deal by Ferrari, with him
knowing how to put aside his emotion and focus on the task at
hand. Ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, it was
announced that Vasseur had been handed a new contract, despite
recent reports from Italian media that he was set to be axed. The
complete opposite has happened for the Frenchman, at a time when
results have started to improve for the Scuderia. Leclerc is on a
run of four podiums across the last six grands prix, boosting the
Maranello-based team's chances of securing second in the F1
constructors' title. Asked for his reaction to Vasseur's new
contract, Leclerc told media: "I'm really, really happy. I mean,
it's not that it was coming as a surprise. "But I'm really happy,
especially in the past month, there were quite a few rumours, it's
always the case around the team, so to finally have the official
news out is important, and I'm really happy." Vasseur's special
strength Crucially, Vasseur is Ferrari's first non-Italian team
principal since Jean Todt departed in 2008, with Leclerc hailing
his ability to avoid being distracted by the emotion behind the
team. Ferrari is renowned for being full of emotion and passion,
linked to the team's routes as an Italian manufacturer. In
Leclerc's eyes, controlling the emotion is a huge strength of
Vasseur's, as is his ability to get the most out of each individual
in Maranello. "Without going into comparing the different years, I
think Fred has an incredible vision," added Leclerc. "And I think
what's very difficult within Ferrari is the emotion is very much
part of the daily job, because Italian people in general [show
emotion], and that's what makes Ferrari so special. "[Italians are]
extremely passionate about Ferrari, but Fred really knows how to
leave his emotions aside and have a clear vision of where we are
at, no matter how much noise there's around the team. "And this is
very, very important. But then, apart from that, he's got,
obviously, many more qualities. One of them is also to extract the
maximum out of every single person at the factory. And this, when
you put everything together, makes a makes a big difference."
