02/07/2025
NEWS STORY
As the Italian media continues to call for his sacking, Toto Wolff comes out in defence of Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur.
In Canada the Frenchman came out all guns blazing in his condemnation of the media following numerous claims linking the likes of Christian Horner with the poison chalice that is the team principal position in Maranello.
However, in Austria, where the team scored its best result of the season, and finally looked to be competitive, the Frenchman was not present, having returned home for "personal reasons".
As the media onslaught continues, Toto Wolff has leapt to his defence.
"Fred is one of the best racing managers that I know," the Austrian told reporters in Austria at the weekend. "If I wasn't here, I would take Fred. I respect him a lot," he added.
"He's a great personality, he's a straightforward guy who doesn't do politics and lies, and he knows what he's talking about.
"He's perfectly aware that in Italy, he's like managing the football national team and you're going to have the scrutiny from the media. Maybe that's something you need to grow a little bit of a thick skin for, because if he wins, he is Jesus Christ. And if you lose, you're a loser.
"That's how Italy is, and that's fantastic. That's the passion that's there, you've got to embrace that. And maybe that's something he needs to learn. But he should be given the confidence to run this team. They won't get anybody better.
"In Formula 1 you can't buy time, and you need to give senior leadership the time to get on top of things," he urged. "Jean Todt, if I'm not wrong, joined the team in 1993. They won the first championship in 2000... eight years. That's how it goes.
"And it comes in cycles. Look at us. I'm not enjoying being in a phase that it's the third year in a row that we're not fighting for a championship. We're not useless. We have really good weekends. We're winning races. It's respectable at times. And when it's not good, nobody's questioning whether the top guy is doing a good job or not.
"Leave him the space, let him do. Allow him to structure an organization that isn't going to grip from day one. Loic is there six months or seven months. They need to just let them do."
Wise words from the Austrian, but this is the media we're talking about and be it Italy, the UK or wherever, bad news sells.