Mattia Binotto – Ferrari, the reasons for the separation: who is the replacement?

26/11/2022 13:52

Scuderia Ferrari and Mattia Binotto separate. The terms for the contract release are being defined according to a complex procedure, as always happens when a contract is terminated before it end (Mattia Binotto’s agreement was available until the end of 2023).

According to Giorgio Terruzzi and Daniele Sparisci for corriere.it, those who know John Elkann speak of his intention to change Mattia Binotto for some time now, prevailing over every consideration relating to the 2022 results. Which makes the modalities of this separation worrying, given that a replacement has not yet been hired. Frederic Vasseur is eager to join the Maranello team, he is the only one available, after several other important figures refused the offer. According to corriere.it, among the ones who passed the opportunity to lead Ferrari there is Andreas Seidl, McLaren team principal, Franz Tost, Alpha Tauri boss and former Scuderia Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger, who is busy in a completely different motor racing series. It means that Fred Vasseur – who would have already started to take Italian lessons – is not an optimal choice, but the only practicable one. Which is not exciting, even considering the Frenchman’s curriculum vitae, as he comes from a failure in the Renault management and from an unexciting experience at Alfa. He is also linked to Toto Wolff, with both having many personal interests in motorsport. But Frederic Vasseur will be asked to win, after the second place obtained this year.

It was an agony that led to a consensual separation, marked by silence and hesitations, culminating with the denial regarding Fred Vasseur’s imminent arrival ahead of the last round of the 2022 Formula One season, the Abu Dhabi GP. This attitude raises questions if we think about the weight of the Ferrari brand. Mattia Binotto leaves after 28 years of work in Maranello. Until the end, he reaffirmed his confidence in a growing team, defended by his own the staff when errors and uncertainties emerged. He is the fourth team principal who leaves Ferrari since 2014 and even those who don’t like Mattia Binotto recognize that this further turnaround could negatively affect the course of the 2023 car, developed under the direction of the outgoing team principal.

Charles Leclerc’s role, given by many as influential, will be clarified in the future. Charles wanted to publicly stay out of this matter: he knows that any inference about his responsibility risks turning into a burden. In reality, Corriere points out that John Elkann applied his own ideas, regardless of the advice, good or bad, he received on this topic. He made the decision alongside chief executive officer Benedetto Vigna, eager to assert his role. It is no coincidence that an interim appointment of Benedetto Vigna himself is hypothesized, pending the official confirmation of Mattia Binotto’s replacement. In the meantime, given how events unfolded in the 2022 Formula One season, for Ferrari it was a new, worrying season. Regardless of the opinion on Mattia Binotto’s activity as Ferrari team principal.

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