Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has admitted he is unsure how competitive the team will be in 2026 following a disappointing 2025 season.

Despite entering the year with strong momentum from 2024 and optimism around Lewis Hamilton’s arrival, Ferrari finished fourth in the constructors’ standings—435 points behind champions McLaren—and failed to win a race for the first time since 2021.

Charles Leclerc ended the season fifth in the drivers’ standings, with Hamilton in sixth. The lackluster results have intensified pressure on the team, with Leclerc calling 2026 a “now or never” year for Ferrari’s title ambitions, while Vasseur acknowledged the uncertainty ahead amid growing expectations.

At a recent media event in Abu Dhabi, Vasseur opened up about his expectations and uncertainties for the 2026 season:

“I have no clue. You know perfectly that all sport is a comparison.”

“I can do a good job, if someone did a better job, I look stupid. And that means that we are focused on a project. We are developing the project, we are pushing at the limit, and we are trying to do the best.”

“For sure, the more time you are spending on the project, the better you think it will be but I don’t know if McLaren, Red Bull or Alpine is in front of us. This, nobody knows.”

“The most important thing is not to spend time to try to understand if the others are in front or behind.”think Charles, if you ever looked last year for sure, when you are going to the TV pen and you’re asking him after the session, are you happy with the session when it’s P2 or are you happy when it’s P6? it’s not the same Charles, for sure.”

“But if you ask him the day after, what do you want to do with the team? I think the approach is always the same. It’s always constructive, to try to do better and even if I’m P1 I have exactly the same approach with the team on the Monday morning, when we are doing the debrief.”

“To know and to understand where we can do better and it doesn’t matter if you are P1 or P10. I think the debrief today at Alpine, Williams, at Red Bull, with us is the same. Is that we are just trying to do a better job.”