Formula 1 – Waltz of the bosses
Rumors of Mattia Binotto’s sacking as Ferrari’s head of sport were rife just weeks before the end of the 2022 season, and his departure from the Maranello home has been confirmed by a source. End of November 2022. The domino game has started and will affect at least 4 teams: Ferrari, Alfa-Romeo, McLaren and Williams. It did not take two weeks for his succession to be attributed to the favorite candidate: Frédéric Vasseur. The latter leaves Alfa-Romeo-Sauber’s Team Principal position vacant… you can guess the rest.
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Ferrari looking to redo Todt’s move?
Mattia Binotto, who has been with the Scuderia for 28 years, therefore left the Italian team at the end of the 2022 season under apparent pressure from the Italian press and brand president John Elka. Despite being a very competitive single-seater in the first Grand Prix, the latter, frustrated by the Scuderia’s mistakes throughout the season, asked for and got Binotto’s lead. Admittedly, Formula 1’s oldest and most prestigious team started the season with a competitive car and then were thrown out of the title race due to strategic judgement, reliability and a few driver mistakes. But the Scuderia still managed to win, with a well-born single-seater, a strong technical concept, much of the credit goes to Binotto. So did you really have to put him away? The future will tell.
Still, the choice of his replacement was crucial. With the Italians approaching, Andreas Seidl, who has been with McLaren for two years, politely declined the offer to lead the Scuderia. We explain the reasons below. So another favorite was chosen for the position: Frédéric Vasseur. The French builder, who is probably less “conciliatory” than the German, should have been assured of free movement to solve this problem. The goal? A Todt-bis! An outstanding leader, hard worker and with 25 years of rich experience and many successes in motorsport, Frédéric Vasseur is also very close to Charles Leclerc and proves to be the perfect manager of drivers’ egos. Let’s hope this allows Ferrari to take another step forward, one that should return it to the top of F1.
Scuderia Ferrari has announced that Fred Vasseur will join Scuderia Ferrari as team principal and general manager on January 9.https://t.co/k6AheXT1Do pic.twitter.com/L882T0gHsl
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) December 13, 2022
Domino game
Frédéric Vassor’s arrival at Ferrari meant his departure from Alfa-Romeo-Sauber. Coincidentally, at the same time Jost Capito and Francois-Xavier Demaison left their respective positions at Williams – Team Principal and Technical Director. Some saw Capito taking the torch at Sauber because of his close ties with the Volkswagen group, which will be Audi’s Swiss team partner from 2026. Closely linked to Volkswagen: Andreas Seidl, the man who built McLaren in F1 after taking Porsche to victory in the endurance race and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The German engineer will not be completely in the unknown at Sauber as he was part of the BMW-Sauber adventure in the early 2000s. He will be replaced at McLaren by Andrea Stella, until then the executive director of racing at the Woking stable. .
With Andreas Seidl leaving the team for a new challenge, we can immediately confirm the appointment of Andrea Stella as our new Formula 1 Team Principal.
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— McLaren (@McLarenF1) December 13, 2022
A concern for Williams
If Jost Capito did not leave Williams to go to Sauber, one can think about the reasons that led the German to leave Grove, such as the technical director of the team Francois-Xavier Demaison. In need of competition in the 2022 season, despite some brilliant shots from Alexander Albo, Williams lost two strong men. Should we see the latter’s frustration with the team’s immediate future? Still, American owner Dorilton Capital has yet to announce the succession of Jost and Demaison.
