Red Bull appears to have already revealed Fred Vasseur's successor at Ferrari

Openly, Vasseur’s position is (again) being undermined. GPblog is also hearing the rumour that the team boss could be sidelined by Ferrari within a few months. Although the Frenchman dismisses all the stories as nonsense, he also has to concede that speculation about his future has been ongoing for some time and the results are leaving much to be desired. At some point, Ferrari will be Ferrari, by acting ruthlessly.

Before that happens, there is already heavy speculation about a possible successor. Several names have been floated, such as Christian Horner, assistant team principal Jerome D’Ambrosio, and WEC team principal Antonello Coletta. But one name is not being mentioned. Someone who, a few months ago, was said to be destined to become Ferrari’s team principal at some point: Andrea Stella.

Earlier this year, McLaren announced it had hired Gianpiero Lambiase as Chief Racing Officer. According to Red Bull Racing, where the Brit has become Max Verstappen’s highly successful race engineer—GP will make the move to become McLaren’s team principal.

It was in May that Laurent Mekies said: "Look, it's certainly my understanding that GP (Lambiase) is going to McLaren to become a team principal. That's what I told you at ​the time [in Miami].

McLaren reacted sharply right away, emphasising that Andrea Stella was already their team principal. There was, moreover, no reason whatsoever to assume the Italian would leave, they added. Nevertheless, the rumour mill had suggested: Andrea Stella would like to become Ferrari’s team principal. With Lambiase on board, there would be a replacement in-house if that happened.

If Ferrari were to decide to dismiss Vasseur and target Stella, they would probably have to wait quite some time. For starters, McLaren might, with a bit of bad luck, only be able to start working with Lambiase in 2028, as Red Bull want to keep him on gardening leave. Letting Stella go immediately would therefore put McLaren in serious trouble. Normally, Stella would also have to sit out a similar period if he wanted to start elsewhere.

It’s speculation, but would Ferrari be willing to wait for Stella? He is Italian and trained within Ferrari. He knows the team, the culture, and above all has been highly successful in his role at McLaren - with three world titles as tangible results. It’s hard to imagine a more attractive profile for a Ferrari team principal.