Even though all of the driver seats have been confirmed on the Formula 1 grid for next season, there is another silly season taking place among the Team Principals. In a week that has brought a lot of change among the management of F1 teams, here is a round-up of all the main moves, in case you missed anything.
Vasseur replaces Binotto
The biggest surprise was the announcement that Mattia Binotto would step down as Ferrari Team Principal and Managing Director of the Gestione Sportiva. The departure comes after Ferrari bosses John Elkann and Benedetto Vigna were unhappy after Binotto failed to lead a sustained championship push in 2022. He will be replaced by Frederic Vasseur, who announced that he would be leaving Alfa Romeo after six seasons in charge as Team Principal and CEO. Vasseur will join as Team Principal and General Manager on January 9th, 2023. As noted by Christian Horner, it is now Ferrari's sixth Team Principal since he started in F1 with Red Bull in 2005.
Seidl in as Sauber CEO, but not as Team Principal
The next domino to fall into place was Andreas Seidl being announced as Sauber CEO . The German leaves McLaren as their Team Principal, in a move that was likely influenced by Audi's recent strategic buy-in of the team ahead of their entry to 2026. Seidl has previous experience running a Volkswagen Group motorsport programme, having been Team Principal of Porsche's LMP1 effort which won three Le Mans 24 Hours in a row between 2015 and 2017. It's important to note that this is just the CEO position that Seidl will take up, with the team set to confirm their Team Principal later.
Stella replaces Seidl at McLaren
Replacing Seidl at McLaren is Andrea Stella , who joined the team in 2015 having moved along with Fernando Alonso from Ferrari. Stella joined then as Head of Operations, before being appointed Performance Director in 2018, then recently as Executive Director in 2019. The Italian started his career with Ferrari in 2000 and has engineered a trio of champions, including Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Alonso.
Capito out at Williams
After just two years at the helm, Jost Capito will depart Williams with immediate effect . The team has yet to announce a replacement for Capito, but it brings to an end a period of uprising for the team that was often finishing last prior to the takeover from Dorilton Capital. Capito leaves with Technical Director FX Demaison who joined in 2021 and Aerodynamics Director, David Wheater, who has spent nine years at the team.
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