F1 2025: Meet the 10 team principals

Know which 2025 F1 team principal used to be a shareholder in Williams before joining his current team or who once worked for the FIA?

No fear if you don't, as we take a look at the 10 familiar faces who are currently serving as F1 team principals in 2025. 

Should one leave their job over the course of this season, of course, this article will be updated!

This article has been updated in light of Christian Horner being sacked by Red Bull and Laurent Mekies and Alan Permane receiving new roles.

McLaren - Andrea Stella

Place and date of birth - Orvieto, Italy - 22nd February, 1971

When started as team principal - 13th December 2022

Andrea Stella first joined McLaren back in 2015 as head of race operations, following Fernando Alonso from Ferrari, where he had been the Spanish driver's race engineer.

He was promoted up through the ranks to racing director in 2019 under the stewardship of Andreas Seidl and CEO Zak Brown as McLaren began to pull itself out of the doldrums of the mid-2010s. 

Seidl would leave at the end of 2022 to return to the Volkswagen camp to head up Audi's transition for its 2026 entry, meaning Brown promoted Stella to team principal.

The affable Italian then guided the team to its first constructors' championship since 1998 in his second full season in charge.

Ferrari - Frederic Vasseur

Place and date of birth - Draveil, France - 28th May, 1968

When started as team principal - 13th December, 2022

Starting in the role the same day as Stella at McLaren, Frederic Vasseur was hired to knock a Ferrari team into shape after a season under Mattia Binotto in which it had the fastest car but operational errors cost it dearly.

The jovial Vasseur spoiled Red Bull's perfect 2023 with a Ferrari victory in Singapore and mounted the team's best title charge since 2012 in '24 for the constructors'. 

For the first time since 2012, Ferrari went into the final race with a chance of winning a world championship - the constructors' - but its five wins were not quite enough to topple McLaren. 

The wait goes on, but Vasseur has whipped Ferrari in a racer's team. 

Oh, and he signed Lewis Hamilton for 2025 as well.

Red Bull - Laurent Mekies

Place and date of birth - Tours, France - April 28th, 1977

When started as team principal - July 9th, 2025

Laurent Mekies has had quite a journey in F1.

He started off at Arrows in 2000, before moving to Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls) as chief engineer, leaving in 2014 to join the FIA as safety director. 

By 2018, he was on the move again to Ferrari, eventually rising to deputy team principal when his old team, now AlphaTauri came calling as part of a management refresh with Franz Tost heading into retirement.

Mekies assumed Tost's role for 2024, with the team called Visa Cash App RB - but for 2025, it is now simply Racing Bulls.

On July 9th, 2025, he was announced as the new CEO and team principal of Red Bull following the sacking of Christian Horner.

Mercedes - Toto Wolff

Place and date of birth - Vienna, Austria - January 12th, 1972

When started as team principal - joined Mercedes in 2013

Toto Wolff's first entry to F1 was actually with Williams as a director in 2009 and was present when Pastor Maldonado won the 2012 Spanish GP, Williams' last win to date.

By 2013, Wolff was on the move to Mercedes, working under Ross Brawn, but it would never last with Brawn leaving at the end of the year with Mercedes splitting the traditional team principal role.

Wolff assumed all business and commercial matters with Paddy Lowe focusing on matters technical for the first three seasons of the turbo hybrid era which the team dominated.

Lowe's exit at the end of 2016 allowed for a more familiar structure to take place, with Wolff guiding the team to a total of 15 of 16 titles between 2014 and 2021. 

Since 2022, he has been trying to guide the team back to championship contention after being tripped up by the ground-effect rules.

Aston Martin - Andy Cowell

Place and date of birth - United Kingdom - February 12th, 1969

When started as team principal - January 10th, 2025

Andy Cowell took over from Mike Krack ahead of the 2025 F1 season, having joined Aston Martin as group CEO in July 2024.

Cowell cut his teeth in F1 with Cosworth in the late 1990s, before spending a year with BMW in 2000. In that year he led the engineering group that developed Williams' engine for the following season. He then returned to Cosworth as principal engineer for F1 design and development before joining Mercedes in 2004.

He worked on a number of projects and in a selection of roles for the German marque before becoming the managing director of Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains in January 2013. Whilst in that capacity, he oversaw the development of the team's first V6 turbo-hybrid power unit, which took the F1 grid by storm.

During his tenure, Mercedes won 12 F1 champions (six drivers' and six constructors') before leaving in June 2020.

Alpine -

Place and date of birth - N/A

When started as team principal - N/A

Oliver Oakes started the 2025 season as Alpine team principal, but resigned in May 2025 following the arrest of his brother for being in possession of criminal proceeds, namely cash. 

Since then, Flavio Briatore has taken over Oakes' duties, but the team does not have an official team principal. 

Haas - Ayao Komatsu

Place and date of birth - Tokyo, Japan - January 28th, 1976

When started as team principal - January 10th, 2024

Ayao Komatsu first started in F1 in 2003 with BAR (which is Mercedes today), before moving onto Renault and Lotus, rising to Romain Grosjean's race engineer and then chief race engineer.

He followed Grosjean to Haas for 2016, becoming trackside engineering chief for the new team, holding that position under Guenther Steiner's contract was not renewed for 2024.

Komatsu stepped up to the team principal role, overseeing a successful season for Haas as it climbed from last to seventh in the standings, only being pipped by Alpine in the end.

Racing Bulls - Alan Permane

Place and date of birth - Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, UK - February 4th, 1967.

When started as team principal - July 9th, 2025.

Long-time F1 stalwart Alan Permane is best known for his long-spell at Team Enstone through its Benetton, Renault, Lotus, Renault, and Alpine guises, but was removed in mid-2023 from his role as sporting director. 

He moved to Racing Bulls as racing director in early 2024, and after the promotion of Mekies to replace Horner, Permane was named as team principal of the Faenza-based team, the first time he had held such a position after nearly 40 years in F1.

Williams - James Vowles

Place and date of birth - Felbridge, UK - June 20th, 1979

When started as team principal - January 13th, 2023

A trusted lieutenant of Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes as strategy director, Vowles got his chance to step up in 2023 after Jost Capito left Williams. 

Vowles has spent much of the last two seasons trying to fix the team's culture and practices, bringing them up to a modern standard after years of Williams falling behind.

He has signed Carlos Sainz from Ferrari to parter Alex Albon, with the Williams boss the fourth person to lead the team after Sir Frank, Simon Roberts, and Capito.

Stake - Jonathan Wheatley

Place and date of birth - Beaconsfield, UK. May 7th, 1967. 

When started as team principal - April 1st, 2025. 

Long-time Red Bull sporting director Wheatley was named as team principal of Stake before its transition to Audi for 2026 in August 2024.

Red Bull agreed to release Wheatley early, and so took up his position after the first three races of the season, with Stake enjoying a surge of form under his leadership.

For the first time since the 2012 Japanese GP, the Hinwil team scored a podium courtesy of Nico Hulkenberg at the 2025 British GP, remarkably, Hulkenberg's first-ever podium in F1 after 239 attempts.