Ferrari F1 team boss Binotto resigns
FERRARI Formula 1 (F1) boss Mattia Binotto has handed in his resignation and will leave at the end of the year, said the world championship runners-up on Tuesday (Nov 29).
The news came after considerable media speculation that the 53-year-old, whose contract was due to expire at the end of 2023, had lost top-level support after another failed title challenge.
Ferrari had said this month that rumours of Binotto facing the sack were “totally without foundation”. The principal also assured reporters on Nov 19 that he was relaxed about his future.
However, he stopped short of categorically stating he would be in his current job at the start of next year, and the silence of company chairman John Elkann was telling.
The Italian sportscar manufacturer quoted Binotto as saying: “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.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
“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.”
Ferrari said they had started the search for a replacement, likely to be finalised in the new year.
Italian media have suggested that Ferrari chief executive Benedetto Vigna could take on the role on an interim basis.
Frederic Vasseur, who runs Swiss-based Sauber and is principal of the Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo team, has also been touted as a likely successor.
Vasseur is close to Nicolas Todt, the manager of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and son of former boss Jean who presided over a golden era at Maranello with Michael Schumacher. Vasseur and Todt co-founded the junior series ART racing team.
Stellantis-owned Alfa Romeo are due to end its sponsorship of Sauber at the end of 2023, with the team then becoming the Audi factory outfit of Audi from 2026.
Ferrari made a strong start this season after two years without a win. Expectations soared after Leclerc triumphed in two of the first three races and finished second in the other.
But their hopes were dashed by mechanical unreliability, strategy errors and driver mistakes.
Red Bull’s defending champion Max Verstappen won five of the next six races, and ended the 22-round season with a record 15 victories. Meanwhile, Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz fended off a challenge from a resurgent Mercedes for second place.
Although Leclerc won three races and took nine pole positions to Sainz’s sole triumph, Ferrari finished distant runners-up to Red Bull.
Leclerc finished second overall, 146 points behind now double world champion Verstappen.
Binotto has spent his whole career at Maranello. The highly-regarded engineer became head of Ferrari’s engine department in 2013 and then chief technical officer in 2016.
He took over as team boss in January 2019, replacing Maurizio Arrivabene, who is now chief executive of Serie A soccer side Juventus, the board of which resigned on Monday.
Binotto kept his calm in the face of huge pressure, carefully analysing the team’s setbacks and defending his employees, but ultimately the results were not good enough.
The sport’s oldest and most successful team, present in every championship season since the first in 1950, slumped to sixth overall in the 2020 constructors’ standings – their worst season in 40 years – but recovered to third in 2021.
Ferrari have not won a constructors’ championship since 2008, while now-retired Kimi Raikkonen was the last driver to take them to the top in 2007. REUTERS
Share with us your feedback on BT's products and services
