Vasseur set to be sacked at Ferrari

Last Updated on July 9 2025, 7:59 am

Hamilton stranded at Silverstone as Ferrari fumbles yet again – Lewis Hamilton’s long-awaited return to Silverstone in a Ferrari was supposed to be a triumphant homecoming for Britain’s most successful racing driver, surrounded by adoring fans and Union Jacks.

Instead, it ended with him quietly trudging through the media pen, sounding more like a man who’d been left out in the cold than at the heart of the party. The seven-time world champion held nothing back as he delivered a scathing review of Ferrari’s lacklustre performance and the unruly SF-25 that left him stuck in racing limbo.

 

A British Grand Prix to Forget for the Home Hero

“No-man’s land” doesn’t exactly scream optimism, but that’s precisely how Hamilton described his 52 laps of frustration.

“It’s the worst feeling,” he told Sky Sports, staring down the camera with the kind of thousand-yard stare usually reserved for drivers who’ve just watched their title hopes dissolve in real time.

 

The SF-25: A Confidence Vacuum on Wheels

Hamilton has battled tricky machinery before — the Mercedes W13 was no picnic either — but even by his standards, the SF-25 appears to be testing the limits of his patience. Every session seems like déjà vu. Just when he dares to believe the car might be tamed, it turns around and bites him again.

“When it’s constantly snapping, you just have no confidence,” he explained.

“The ultimate goal is to build up confidence in the car and get faster and faster over time. But it’s like building a wall and then knocking it down again. If you can’t build that confidence, you’re not really going anywhere. You’re kind of in no man’s land. That’s how I felt for most of the race.”

Not exactly what the Ferrari PR team wants printed on their commemorative British Grand Prix coffee mugs!

 

The Strategy Department Strikes Again

As if wrestling a moody prancing horse wasn’t enough, Hamilton also found himself on the receiving end of another classic Ferrari strategy — the kind that fans have sadly come to expect. It’s like a Sunday roast that’s burnt on the outside and raw in the middle.

‘We lost time and a lot of places through strategy,’ Hamilton sighed, his tone falling somewhere between disbelief and resignation.

“I’m not really sure how I was P4 and ended up P8. That made life very difficult. I got stuck behind three cars for a long time.”

Having attempted an early stop to undercut his rivals, Hamilton instead found himself stuck in traffic. “I stopped early in the hope of a big undercut, but it was so tricky. This car does not like these conditions at all.”

A huge snap at turn three sent him wide, causing him to lose even more precious seconds. ‘It cost me a lot of time. I made lots of mistakes. It was not a good day.”

One can only assume that the ghost of Charles Leclerc’s disaster at Silverstone in 2024 was somewhere in the garage, nodding sympathetically.

 

Nico Hülkenberg delivers the final blow

Adding insult to injury, the man who inherited what could have been Hamilton’s podium spot was none other than Nico Hülkenberg — a driver who hadn’t touched the rostrum in over 13 years prior to this season, but who is now making a solid case for becoming Germany’s next folk hero.

With Hülkenberg finishing third and Hamilton in eighth, the Briton’s once-invincible Silverstone streak continues to fade into memory.

The British crowd still cheered him on, but Ferrari’s performance left them with more questions than answers.

 

Ferrari in Crisis: The Vasseur Conundrum

Speaking of questions, there are plenty being directed at the Ferrari pit wall, many of which involve team principal Frédéric Vasseur, whose future looks as shaky as a wet-weather Ferrari pit stop.

Reports emerging from the British Grand Prix weekend suggest that Ferrari’s upper management is ‘discussing’ Vasseur’s future — in Maranello, this is essentially the political equivalent of a tap on the shoulder from Luca di Montezemolo in the past.

Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna made a rare and ominously timed appearance at Silverstone and chose his words carefully when questioned about Vasseur’s contract, which expires at the end of the season. ‘He’s the team principal,’ Vigna said with a politician’s smirk. ‘We’re in July and we’re discussing it. We just had lunch together.’

Translation: he’s not fired… yet.

 

United in Dysfunction?

To be fair to Vigna, he did attempt to put on a brave face. ‘Teams grow with difficulties,’ he said, sounding less like a CEO and more like someone trying to justify spending £300 on a broken toaster. ‘Unity is strength, and that’s what we have at Ferrari. I can feel it here.’

Whether that unity is felt equally across the garage — particularly by Hamilton, who looked like a man questioning every life choice that had led him to this moment — is another matter entirely.

After all, it’s one thing for the car to misbehave. It’s quite another to feel like your own team is undermining you with every strategic gamble. And, in Hamilton’s case, those gambles aren’t paying off — not in 2025 and certainly not at Silverstone.

 

Can Ferrari fix it before Hamilton snaps (again)?

Ferrari are now firmly in the crosshairs of their own fans and the media. Meanwhile, McLaren are pulling away in the constructors’ standings, and Red Bull are still managing to score despite their own internal chaos. Silverstone was supposed to mark a turning point in Hamilton’s Ferrari career. Instead, it’s starting to look like an expensive detour through disappointment.

So, what next for Hamilton and Ferrari? Can the Scuderia get their act together before the summer break, or will the post-race crisis meetings continue well into the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa? Will Vasseur still be around to lead the charge, or will Ferrari once again be looking for a new team boss to throw into the Maranello meat grinder?

We want to hear from you: Is Hamilton right to criticise Ferrari so openly? Can Vasseur survive another strategic disaster? Or is it time for the Prancing Horse to find a new rider before the whole season goes down the pan?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.