Stella to Ferrari, Vasseur out? The Scuderia’s remarkable day

When Ferrari saw the news items from the Netherlands come in on Thursday morning, they nearly fell off their chairs in Maranello. It was written that Andrea Stella would make the switch from McLaren to the Italian squad—an offshoot of the impending transfer of Gianpiero Lambiase to McLaren.

GPblog asked Ferrari for a response to the Stella rumour on Thursday, but nothing more than a “no comment” was forthcoming. After all, it is Scuderia policy not to respond to rumours in the media, whether they are true or not.

Even so, Ferrari’s hands must have been itching when one journalist after another reached out to verify the rumour first reported in the Netherlands.

GPblog has learned that there is absolutely no scenario in which Andrea Stella will move to McLaren for the 2028 season (or at all for the time being) and thereby replace Vasseur.

Formula 1 will not be back in action for nearly a month, in Miami. It can already be predicted that Fred Vasseur will face plenty of questions in the American city about what was reported this Thursday. As experienced as Vasseur is, he will know exactly how to deflect those questions.

The answers, however, could be short and to the point: Ferrari’s team principal isn’t going anywhere, and Stella is not his successor. At least for now, because in Formula 1, everything can be completely different again in a few months.