Charles Leclerc ‘considering quitting’ crisis-hit Ferrari as replacement boss identified

Reports in the Italian media suggest Ferrari chiefs are growing impatient over Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s struggles with boss Frederic Vasseur said to be on thin ice

Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur is said to be on shaky ground with the Italian team’s top bosses growing more frustrated over their struggles. That’s despite the most famous outfit in Formula 1 sitting second in the teams’ championship behind only leaders McLaren.

But it is the size of the gap between them which is frustrating for everyone at Ferrari. Last year they pushed McLaren all the way and lost out on the final day of the season, but already this year they are 197 points adrift of the runaway defending champions.

Behind Ferrari, Mercedes are only six points worse off heading into this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, while Red Bull are 15 further back in fourth place. Ferrari might have been behind both of them had it not been for a run of strong results from Charles Leclerc.

The Monegasque heads to Montreal on the back of two successive podiums. But the consensus is that he has been outperforming an underwhelming Ferrari car which has struggled for pace this year, evidenced by Lewis Hamilton and the difficult first season he has endured with the team so far.

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There was plenty of hype around Ferrari when the seven-time F1 champion joined but that good feeling has since evaporated. His best Grand Prix result to date has been fourth and after the last race in Barcelona, where he finished sixth, he said it was “the worst race I’ve experienced”.

The ever-demanding Italian media seems to be growing restless, including Corriere della Sera which reports that Ferrari’s results in 2025 “are far from the initial objectives” of the team. And the newspaper claims that the situation has led to team principal Vasseur being at risk of the axe.

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It is understood that Ferrari made an informal approach to Christian Horner in recent weeks, though the Red Bull boss batted away questions about his future and said he has no desire to leave his current role. But the Corriere della Sera report names another who is said to be at the top of the list of potential replacements for Vasseur.

Antonello Coletta is the head of Ferrari’s hypercar programme and oversaw their return to the World Endurance Championship in 2023. That year, the team won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and repeated the trick in 2024, while Ferrari AF Corse has won all three rounds held in WEC so far this year.

The Italian newspaper reports he could be tempted to switch over to lead Ferrari’s F1 outfit, having declined to do so in the past. But perhaps more worrying for the team than its team principal dilemma is that Leclerc is said to have doubts “for the first time” about whether he should stick with Ferrari in the long-term.

Leclerc, 27, is a product of Ferrari’s driver academy and is in his seventh season as a Scuderia driver, having joined in 2019, just his second season in F1, after a debut campaign with customer team Sauber. He has a contract until 2029 but it is said to contain exit clauses that he could choose to trigger if he decides another team could provide him with a better chance of winning titles.