According to a Formula1News report, Ferrari’s team principal, Mattia Binotto, may be fired soon. The firing of Mattia Binotto is imminent, and now the attention is already focused on a potential successor to the Italian, who has been in the position for the past four years.
Before the Abu Dhabi GP, reports that Binotto would be fired from his position started to circulate; however, Ferrari officially denied these reports in a statement.
Although it seems as though the reports that surfaced last week are accurate, Alfa Romeo’s team principal, Frederic Vasseur, has been predicted to be Ferrari’s future team principal because of his connections to the team and their number one driver, Charles Leclerc.
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Vasseur managed the Monegasque driver, during his time as Leclerc’s team principal in 2018. In the season finale, Vasseur was questioned about whether the reports were genuine at the Yas Marina Circuit, and it is fair to assume that he didn’t refute them. He said: “I’m not going to say anything about it, you’ll find out soon enough,”
Although he didn’t explicitly state that the reports are true, his verbiage does insinuate that Vasseur will take over as Ferrari’s future team principal, offering the team a very seasoned leader.
John Elkann, the president of Ferrari, is said to lack confidence in the current team principal, and Binotto has apparently had enough of him. Binotto revealed that he was “relaxed” about the rumors surrounding his future in the team and that, in 2022, they “achieved” their “main objective” while he was in charge.
The Italian added: “The reason why I’m relaxed is that I always have open, frank and constructive discussions with my bosses, with my chairman, not only on the short-term but on the medium and the long-term,”
“If I look back at the season – yes, we had a few ups and downs, we are not the best yet, the fastest car on track – but I think we achieved our main objective, which was to be back, to be competitive in that new era of the 2022 cars.”
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In the unlikely event that Binotto stays with Ferrari, which seems to have zero likelihood of happening, the Italian wishes for the team to concentrate on their “weaknesses” before the 2023 season starts.
Binotto said: “Yes, there are still a lot of things we need to progress, weaknesses have been shown, but we will try to address them. Everyone back at the factory is focused on 2023, trying to improve… I’m relaxed – more than that I’m really focused on what we need to do. I’m concentrated with the team.”
