Ferrari chairman breaks silence amid Christian Horner 'talks' and Fred Vasseur axe claims

Ferrari have given a public vote of confidence to team principal Frederic Vasseur. It comes not only amid a difficult run of results for the team who have not won a Formula 1 Grand Prix all year, but also after reports emerged claiming the team has been in contact with Christian Horner.

The Brit will be free to join another F1 team next year after agreeing the terms of his exit from Red Bull last month. He spent 20 years in charge of the team, during which time they won 14 championships, and so his availability is likely to interest some team owners next year, particularly if their outfits get off to a bad start in the new regulations for 2026.

The first strong links have suggested Horner could be in line to replace team principal Vasseur at Ferrari. But, ahead of Sunday's United States Grand Prix, chairman John Elkann elected to back the Frenchman who received a multi-year contract extension earlier this year.

Elkann said: "I want to express our full confidence in our team principal, Fred Vasseur, and in the work he is carrying out together with all his colleagues at Scuderia Ferrari - the mechanics, engineers, and drivers who are competing this weekend in Austin.

"I also want to emphasize the importance of teamwork from everyone to maintain focus on the only goal that truly matters: always giving our absolute best on track."

For the latest breaking stories and headlines, sign up to our Daily Express F1 newsletter, or join our WhatsApp community here.

Horner is known to be considering his options for a return to F1 and has already been in contact with several team owners up and down the grid. But rather than simply as a team principal, any new role in the sport is likely to be dependent on whether or not he can land a financial stake in the team in question.

Horner was not only team principal at Red Bull Racing but also chief executive. Even though he did not have equity, he wielded close to unlimited power - a situation the Austria-based parent company was content with when founder Dietrich Mateschitz was in charge, but that changed when his son Mark took over following his father's death in 2022.

In later times, the level of power Horner had was a source of frustration from those in charge of Red Bull GmbH and those tensions are believed to be part of the reason behind why he was ousted. But if he were to return with Ferrari, he would only encounter more politics and would certainly not be granted the level of power he would expect.