Written by Gen Flauta, Edited by Simran Kanthi
Mattia Binotto offered his resignation at Scuderia Ferrari just over a week after the 2022 F1 season ended, leaving room for the next individual to take over the helm at Maranello. Rumours began circulating that Frederic Vasseur would take over Binotto's role, following the fact that Sauber (under the Alfa Romeo banner) will be taken over by Audi from 2026 onwards.
After weeks of negotiations, Vasseur's official exit from the Hinwil-based squad has been confirmed, and he will move to Maranello to become both the Team Principal and General Manager of Ferrari from January 9th onwards, after Binotto leaves the team at the end of this month.
Vasseur is "truly delighted and honoured to take over the leadership of Scuderia Ferrari as Team Principal. As someone who has always held a lifelong passion for motorsport, Ferrari has always represented the very pinnacle of the racing world to me."
"I look forward to working with the talented and truly passionate team in Maranello to honour the history and heritage of the Scuderia and deliver for our Tifosi around the world," he added.
"We are delighted to welcome Fred Vasseur to Ferrari as our Team Principal," Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna added on the arrival of Vasseur. "Throughout his career, he has successfully combined his technical strengths as a trained engineer with a consistent ability to bring out the best in his drivers and teams," he added.
He believed that "this approach and his leadership are what we need to push Ferrari forward with renewed energy."
Vasseur will carry his wealth of motorsport experience, which includes a brief spell in Renault in 2016, his time at Sauber as the team principal from 2017, in which he helped lift the team back to finish sixth in the constructors' standings that year, along with a takeover by Audi in 2026. This was followed by Alfa Romeo's announcement of the conclusion of its partnership with Sauber at the end of the 2023 season.
Vasseur also has a strong relationship with Charles Leclerc, which may be prove to be an advantage for Ferrari. Leclerc raced under Vasseur's ART team during the 2016 GP3 season in which he won the title, as well as making his debut season with Sauber during Vasseur's time as the team principal. Leclerc has "been working with Fred already from the junior categories, where he has believed in me, and then we've always had a good relationship." However, he added that his relationship with Vasseur "shouldn't influence any of the decisions. He has always been very straightforward, and very honest. And this is something that I liked about Fred."
The outright loser from this and all the other moves would appear to be McLaren, Vasseurs move is good and understandable. I gather Seidl has left his team principal role at McLaren and replaced Vasseur at Alfa which has left McLaren moving Andrea Stella into the role previously occupied by Seidl.
Having appeared unable to engineer a car Daniel could drive almost all, a car even Norris said was uncomfortable and unpredictable....McLaren appear to be entering 23 with a rookie driver and rookie-ish team boss, however well regarded. McLaren in the Zak Brown era remain an uncompetitive mystery to me and seem constantly outfoxed by competitors, be it on track with car performance or off track with management decisions.