Ferrari president visits McLaren as rumours grow over new boss for Lewis Hamilton

It's just about that time of the season again where the Ferrari inquests are ongoing as yet another season goes past without winning the world championship.

For at least the early part of 2026 with Lewis Hamilton, it looked like the famous Italian team might have a chance of winning an F1 title since taking the constructors' crown in 2008.

Instead it's been a straightforward ease towards the drivers' title for Kimi Antonelli, while Ferrari cannot lay a glove on the 20-year-old's Mercedes team.

Squarely in the firing line is Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur, who is in his fourth season with the team.

This is important because his predecessors Mattia Binotto and Maurizio Arrivabene both only got four years before patience on their respective tenures ran out after they failed to deliver the expected titles.

Binotto even got a vote of confidence from Ferrari before he departed just two weeks later back in 2022.

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Vasseur not trending well at Ferrari

That's not to say Vasseur is certainly heading in the same direction, but the recent signs for the 58-year-old Frenchman are not promising.

For a start, there are many reports from Italy insisting his relationship with Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna is in turmoil, although this is something Vigna has denied.

In addition, Italian media claim that the Frenchman is also being called 'Napoleon' at Maranello by staff due to an 'arrogant nature' he reportedly carries.

There was even more tension after the recent Singapore Grand Prix, when Vasseur struggled to hide his anger after he admitted Hamilton went against team orders by not pitting, costing the seven-time world champion a possible podium finish.

All that considered, no one would be surprised if this season is Vasseur's last.

Ferrari president at US Grand Prix

That made the United States Grand Prix even more curious on Sunday, as the Ferrari president John Elkann was present with most of the company's top brass.

The primary reason was that Ferrari is a gigantic market in USA - it makes sense for them to turn up - but that doesn't mean F1 business cannot be attended to as well.

On this note, it was very interesting to see Elkann pay a visit to the McLaren motorhome during the COTA weekend in Austin.

Now this could be about literally anything, but it's worth noting one thing.

Andrea Stella to Ferrari?

A certain Andrea Stella has done an excellent job at McLaren as team principal, helping them win both world championships in 2024.

The Italian is a former Ferrari F1 employee too, so getting to know his way around Maranello again wouldn't be particularly difficult.

Where would this leave McLaren? Well, they have already signed Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase for 2028, and have been extremely keen to thrash out a deal with Red Bull for him to start at Woking a year earlier.

Officially, McLaren claimed Lambiase would work alongside Stella, but Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies cheekily said earlier in the year Lambiase (or GP as he is known) left to become McLaren's team principal.

As Ferrari's year fades out to another winless adventure all that can be said for 2027 is watch this space.

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Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

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