Charles Leclerc ‘very happy’ with Fred Vasseur’s new deal, and his sense of humor

In recent weeks, two rumors dominated the Formula 1 paddock.

Both were put to rest on Thursday ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The first was that Max Verstappen would be making a shocking move to Mercedes, ending his run at Red Bull. Verstappen poured cold water on that rumor on Thursday in the paddock, finally confirming that he will be back with the team next season.

The other rumor was that Ferrari was making a switch at the top. Expectations are always high around Maranello, and Italian media turned the temperature up under Frederic Vasseur, writing in recent weeks that the Ferrari boss might be on the way out due to the team’s lack of performance. But Ferrari put those rumors to bed on Thursday, announcing a new “multiple-year contract” with Vasseur.

And one of his drivers could not be happier.

“I’m really, really happy. It’s not that it’s coming as a surprise, but I’m really happy,” said Leclerc in the FIA Press Conference at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Leclerc then addressed the rumors around Vasseur.

“Especially in the past month, there were quite a few rumors, like it’s always the case around the team. To finally have the official news out is important and I’m really happy,” added the driver.

Leclerc then acknowledged the passion around the team, and how Vasseur gets the most out of everyone at Ferrari in the highly charged environment.

“Without going into comparing the different eras, Fred has an incredible vision. What’s very difficult within Ferrari is the emotion is very much part of the daily job because Italian people in general, and that’s what makes Ferrari so special, are extremely passionate about Ferrari,” added the Monegasque driver. “Fred really knows how to leave his emotions aside and have a clear vision of where we are at no matter how much noise there is around the team.

“This is very, very important. Apart from that, he’s got many more qualities. One of them is also to extract the maximum out of every single person at the factory and this, when you put everything together, it makes a big difference.”

Leclerc’s praise for Vasseur did not end there. Later in the session, Leclerc again addressed the rumors about Vasseur’s tenure, as well as the environment and “hype” around the team with Lewis Hamilton’s arrival.

“Definitely. The fact that there was so much hype around the team at the beginning of the year made everything worse,” said Leclerc. “When we then started the season, I think everybody thought we were going to win the championship and unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Then there were rumours and that took a bigger proportion than what we want. These are not things we can control. As I was saying earlier, it’s part of Ferrari. It’s always been the case and it will never change. We cannot focus on that. The best thing we can do is try and not think about those things as much as possible.”

Leclerc again praised his Team Principal’s vision before turning to what might be an underrated trait of Vasseur’s.

His sense of humor.

“He definitely changed the way we are working on different things. Where Fred made the biggest difference is his vision, his overall vision. This, he embedded it into the team and that’s very important,” added Leclerc. “I feel that the beauty of Ferrari is the fact that emotionally it’s always intense, but it can also harm us in some ways, especially when tougher times arrive. Fred has always had very cold blood in those moments and helped the team to be a little bit more, lucid – do you say that in English? Yes? OK. And that’s the biggest thing Fred has brought to the team.

As for that sense of humor?

“He’s definitely very funny,” continued Leclerc. “I’m sure it plays a part in the team. We’ve got some very funny guys within the team as well. However, we are obviously here to work. It helps. Whenever we have team dinners, we are having a good time, and it really feels like a family. For me, it definitely feels like a family.

“I’ve been growing up in Ferrari basically and I’m still there. Fred has integrated into the team extremely well. Now he’s leading it with his sense of humour as well, which sometimes can lighten some difficult situations,” concluded Leclerc.

“Again, I’m really happy about Fred’s reconfirmation within the team.”