With the news that Mattia Binotto will leave Ferrari F1 team after 4 years as the team principle. What are Ferrari’s options to fill the role?
Speculation surrounding the future of Mattia Binotto began around the middle of November, when a report by Gazzetta dello Sport, which stated that Binotto would be replaced with Fred Vasseur of Sauber lined up to replace him at Marinello.
This prompted Ferrari to release a statement denying the reports and that they were committed to Mattia Binotto.
In response to speculation in certain media regarding Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto’s position, Ferrari state these rumours are totally without foundation.
Ferrari’s response to speculation surrounding Mattia Binotto
Clearly the dreaded “vote of confidence” did nothing to quell the speculation, or to reassure Mattia that his job was safe, a mere two weeks later Mattia Binotto released a statement confirming his decision to leave Ferrari after 28 years ( four as team principle)
With the regret that this entails, I have decided to conclude my collaboration with Ferrari. I am leaving a company that I love, which I have been part of for 28 years, with the serenity that comes from the conviction that I have made every effort to achieve the objectives set. I leave a united and growing team. A strong team, ready, I’m sure, to achieve the highest goals, to which I wish all the best for the future. I think it is right to take this step at this time as hard as this decision has been for me. I would like to thank all the people at the Gestione Sportiva who have shared this journey with me, made up of difficulties but also of great satisfaction.
Mattia Binotto’s statement on leaving Ferrari
Benedetto Vigna, Ferrari CEO released a statement regarding the departure of Binotto.
I would like to thank Mattia for his many great contributions over 28 years with Ferrari and particularly for leading the team back to a position of competitiveness during this past year. As a result, we are in a strong position to renew our challenge, above all for our amazing fans around the world, to win the ultimate prize in motorsport. Everyone here at the Scuderia and in the wider Ferrari community wishes Mattia well for the future.
With the usual pleasantries out of the way, the Formula 1 community began to look for the reasons regarding the departure. It soon became clear that Mattia Binotto felt that he had lost the support of both Benedetto Vigna and John Elkann, Ferrari’s CEO and Chairman respectively. This would make Binotto’s position untenable.
It must be said that, this situation does not lad purely on a personality clash, Ferrari’s 2022 season was a success in many ways and a failure in others.
In comparison to the previous two seasons, Ferrari returned to the front of the grid in 2022, they had built a car capable to fight for the championship. Marinello also had an impressive driver line up in Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who have the talent and mental capacity to compete within Ferrari bubble.
Unfortunately for Ferrari the wheels fell off Ferrari’s title challenge, with poor strategy calls, driver errors and reliability issues all contributing to the failure of the 2022 campaign. These issues would not be the death nail for Binotto, his perceived reaction (or lack of) was seen as a weakness with the senior figures at Marinello.
Mattia Binotto didn’t want to run Ferrari with fear, rather looking to build a “no-blame” culture, win and lose as a team. Binotto would resist the pressure to make changes after a series of issues cost the team valuable points in the fight with Redbull.
This direction was not accepted by John Elkann, who wanted a more ruthless culture within the team. In essence he wanted someone to take the fall for the errors. He wanted changes to be made.
With a clear difference in opinion, it was only going t be a matter of time before Binotto has to leave, Mattia saw this coming, he couldn’t work in an environment that undermined his power and ability to do his job.
So What Now?
Although it has been speculated that Ferrari has a new Principle lined up this seems to not the case. Within the statement Ferrari released, they dropped a clue that this was not the fact.
“The process is underway to identify Scuderia Ferrari’s new Team Principal and is expected to be finalized in the new year”
With Ferrari announcing they are “identifying” a new TP, it would suggest that an agreement has not been agreed with Mattia’s successor. Ferrari doesn’t have a wealth of options to draw from. The ideal candidates are not available or not willing to move to Marinello.
Both Christian Horner and Toto Wolff would both be perfect for the job, they would never swap their current roles to head to Italy. Toto Wolff is part owner of the Mercedes F1 team and has built up a solid team, he is also very much a “no blame” type of person. Toto has ultimate responsibility on the team, however he allows his team to make decisions, which in turn lead to multiple championships.
Christian Horner has a similar role within Redbull Racing, he is the CEO of the company, and has ultimate control of the team. He has ran with a similar type of leadership to Toto Wolff, admittedly with a tad more ruthlessness (how many in-season driver changes?)
Andreas Seidl would be an ideal Team Principle, however the Ferrari management structure would hinder anything that Seidl. Even with Andreas having a boss (Zak Brown), he has been given a lot of discretion with regards to the direction of Mclaren’s F1 team. It was Seidl who drove the decision to move to Mercedes Power Units, he also authorized the construction of a new Wind Tunnel and updating of other areas within the McLaren infrastructure. It would be hard to believe that he would be afforded the same level of power and discretion.
Management style will not the deciding factor as to why Toto and Christian would not head to Ferrari, the biggest hurdle is anonymity. Both have been given the keys to the garage and for the most part are left alone to run the team as they see fit. This would not be the case for the Ferrari team principle, the new team principle would be an employee that would have to answer to senior management.
The Formula 1 media has named Sauber Alfa Romeo’s Team Principle Fred Vasseur as Binotto’s likely successor. This would be a good appointment, with good experience and knowledge. Vasseur has an understanding of Ferrari and how they operate due to Sauber’s connection to Marinello.
The biggest issue with Vasseur would center around his management style. Is he the ruthless, take no prisoners type of Team Principle that Ferrari want?
Ferrari are stuck in a cultural vacuum, demanding that the Formula 1 team runs unlike any other team on the grid, this would be ok if it brought success, however history has shown that Ferrari has failed to deliver more than they have succeeded. A change in Team Principle will not end the issues that are within the Ferrari team, the new principle can steady a ship for so long.
Ferrari needs a cultural shift, a change of mindset. Formula 1 teams cannot be ran under the banner of fear, it needs to be ran as a collective, an opportunity to breed innovation.