Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur is under pressure from Italian media to improve the team’s fortunes with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc not in contention for wins

Lewis Hamilton does not have a competitive Ferrari car(Image: PA)

A former Formula 1 champion has said he would “go ballistic” if he was a Ferrari driver amid the team’s current “chaotic energy”. The Italians are the most famous outfit in the sport but have not won a title since 2008 – and won’t end that drought this year with McLaren dominating.

It means Lewis Hamilton, 40, is running out of time to win an eighth F1 title which he desperately wants to do as a Ferrari driver. And team-mate Charles Leclerc also seems to be growing frustrated having spent years spearheading the charge of an under-performing team.

The Italian media has been critical of team principal Frederic Vasseur of late and suggesting he could be replaced soon unless he can inspire an improvement in their fortunes on track. And speculation has only intensified since Christian Horner became available.

Ferrari have courted Horner before and, now that he has been axed by Red Bull, they may have a better chance of tempting the Brit to make the move to Maranello. In the eyes of Jacques Villeneuve, he may be better equipped to deal with the constant scrutiny than any Ferrari boss always faces.

“Christian Horner to Ferrari would be an interesting one,” the 1997 F1 champion said. “He’s been solid, doesn’t seem to have been very affected by pressure, even in tough times. So, he might well be one that could be able to shoulder Ferrari.”

Villeneuve was also highly critical of the current situation at Ferrari and made it clear that he would have spoken up about it long ago if he were in Hamilton or Leclerc’s shoes. The Canadian said: “The team principal at Ferrari is always under threat – that’s the name of the game.

“When you accept going to Ferrari, you know that you’re walking on fire, you’re walking on eggs. It’s always a risky proposition. And if you take the job, which puts you in the limelight, you have to accept the consequences, which means it’s easy to just be chopped.

“You live under constant pressure, and you have to accept it from the media, from everyone and you complain about it because a team principal there is always one who managed to remove his predecessor. There’s always a lot of politics. So, if it happens to Vasseur there should not be any surprise. The last few races probably protected him a bit.

Jacques Villeneuve said he would not stand for the situation if he was a Ferrari driver(Image: Getty Images)

“But the wind changes so quickly at Ferrari. And it looks like Lewis is getting the hang of it, and is starting to figure out the car. And that’s putting Leclerc in a very bad spot. And you can hear it in his comments on the radio that it’s a very stressful situation for Leclerc as well.

“That is all the chaotic energy inside the team which is not helpful. All that is just chaotic energy inside the thing that is not easy. Then there’s the way the engineers communicate with the driver, you can hear it over the radio. It’s as if they’re a different team. There is no chemistry.

“It’s the same with Lewis which is understandable maybe because he’s new to the team. But there’s zero chemistry, zero communications, nothing constructive when you listen to the races. In the last few races when I was listening to some of the exchanges, I thought, ‘Wow, how would I have reacted if I’d been the driver?’

“With this kind of communication, I would have gone ballistic. Something needs to be done to clean up the Ferrari house a bit.”