With the departure of Mattia Binotto, who served as Ferrari’s F1 team representative, an unusually large shuffle has taken place in every F1 team system in 2023.
In F1, it is common for a driver’s shock transfer to set off a domino effect, with several explosive moves in the driver market shock season.
Once again this year, Sebastian Vettel’s decision to retire before F1’s summer break was a series of dominoes with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri’s Nick de Vries and Oscar Piastri of McLaren.
Much rarer is this type of crazy carousel involving F1 team bosses like this week.
As Othmar Szafnauer’s move from Aston Martin to Alpine last winter showed, the transfer of top brass isn’t uncommon in F1, but the fact that four teams will have new team bosses next season is pretty extreme.
Indeed, Ferrari’s decision to appoint Frédéric Vasseur as its new team principal sparked a shock move by McLaren to lose Andreas Seidl and promote Andrea Stella to replace him. It’s hard to remember such a crazy day.
This week’s changes at Ferrari, Alfa Romeo/Sauber, McLaren and Williams are all the result of slightly different circumstances, but there is a common theme that unites them. It’s more the fault of the team bosses than ever before in the cost cap era of F1.
Up until a few years ago, one of the team principal’s primary responsibilities was to approach the company’s board of directors and the parent automaker to try and raise the money needed to get the job done right.
And whether you want to move up a grid position, reverse a potential decline, or handle the wrong concept of your car, the best way to put things right is to get your team on the road to better performance. them to write another check to be able to spend the expenses.
But those days are long gone. With the budget cap in place, F1 is no longer a spending race where extra money can cover mistakes.
Instead, it’s about being efficient, disciplined, planning well, and most of all, being smart. With finished budgets equal to the top and bottom of the grid, there was no excuse for rivals to have more budget and therefore do better.
In modern F1, team principals have more responsibility than ever to fulfill their ambitions on the track.
In the case of Joost Capito, Williams continued with him and his technician François-Xavier Demaison after his owner Dorilton Capital had not made the kind of progress they had hoped for under F1’s new era of rules.
Mattia Binotto’s resignation came after Ferrari chairman John Elkann and chief executive Benedetto Viña lost faith in Maranello as they felt it had not reached its full potential in the 2022 season.
Ferrari’s pick of Frédéric Vasseur and Sauber F1 Team’s poaching of Andreas Seidl for a new CEO can be seen as a trend towards choosing senior management who understand what is most needed in this cost-limit mentality.
Performance these days doesn’t come from upgrading the front wing every race. Because the budget to make it possible is limited. Instead, progress is focused on doing better in areas where the benefits should be virtually free.
This requires knowing where to best focus staffing levels and appointments to get the most benefit from everyone in the organization. You must fully understand the rules and deductions so that your spending is 100% aimed at improving the performance of your vehicle and not wasted.
From designers coming up with car concepts on computer screens to pit crews changing wheels on Grand Prix Sunday, you have to get the best out of every level. At each step, each individual must reduce their weight, as the system will have no redundancy to cover its weaknesses.
As such, the team leader should also be a motivator and help push the unit forward. They must make sure their employees fully believe in what they are doing and the path they are on.
Also, the timing of updates to find Goldilocks points matters. You don’t want to go crazy with upgrades early in the season, like you did with Ferrari this year, and then leave it for a bit later when you run out of money. Likewise, it runs the risk of being left behind in late-season development when it comes out too soon. you have to do things right.
All of these elements can be expected to be readily understood only by intelligent and experienced team principals who know the system.
It is probably no coincidence that McLaren started recruiting under Andreas Seidle late last year.
Andreas Seidl said at the Abu Dhabi F1 GP: “That’s why we know we are working in a cost containment environment, working with our finance department and finding synergies and efficiencies within the current way of doing things in F1. I put a lot of effort into it,” he said.
“Thanks to that, almost two months ago, we made the rather significant decision to hire more engineers and have more staff so that we can do things more in parallel in the future. I was able to start the campaign
This shift in approach due to this cost constraint and the need for experienced, stable, and intelligent reps has put team principals in the spotlight like never before.
The additional repercussions it entails bring additional responsibilities. This means extra glory when things go right, but it means you’re at the forefront when things go wrong.
Alfa Romeo/Sauber F1 Team and Williams have not yet decided on team representatives. Jost Kapito is expected to join Audi’s Sauber team, leaving Williams with a vacancy if Mattia Binotto stays in F1.
Ferrari
The CEO and team principal of the Alfa Romeo/Sauber team, Frédéric Vasseur, will replace Mattia Binotto
Alfa Romeo/Sauber F1 Team
Andreas Seidl, who was McLaren’s F1 team representative, has been appointed CEO to succeed Frederic Vasseur. A team representative will be nominated separately.
mclaren
Chief Race Director Andrea Stella has been promoted to replace Andreas Seidl
Williams
CEO and team principal Joost Capito and technical director François-Xavier Demaison are leaving the team. Undecided successor.
Team principal for each F1 team
Red Bull – Christian Horner (2005-)
Alpha Tauri – Franz Tost (2005-)
Mercedes-Totò Wolff (2013-)
Haas – Gunther Steiner (2014-)
Alpine – Otmar Szafnauer (2022-)
Aston Martin – Mike Clack (2022-)
Ferrari – Frederic Vasseur (2023-)
McLaren – Andrea Stella (2023-)
Alfa Romeo – To be confirmed
Williams – To be confirmed
Category: F1 / Ferrari / mclaren / Sauber / AlfaRomeoF1
