Only one F1 team swaps principals more often than Ferrari · RaceFans

The departure of Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto means Formula 1’s most historic team will have its sixth different leader in 15 years.

Some of its rivals have had no change at the top during that entire one-and-a-half decade spell. Others have felt the knock-on effects of Ferrari’s need to replace Binotto, the upshot of which is half of those who led F1 teams 12 months ago have moved on since then.

F1 team principals over the past 15 years

Hover over each principal for more information:

NB. For purposes of illustration it is assumed the current team principals will remain in place at least until the start of the coming season

Formula 1 teams tend to change their driver line-ups more than team principals, but when either position is vacated by someone who has been there for many years it can then take several attempts to find an appropriate successor.

Jean Todt led Ferrari from July 1994 to December 2007, and in that time the team won seven constructors’ titles, six drivers’ titles and 98 races under his watch. Quite a benchmark for the next team principal to be compared against.

Longevity does not necessarily mean success, even surviving for year after year in a highly political team like Ferrari, because there is usually a reluctance to remove underperforming team principals if there is not an appropriate replacement lined up ready to go.

In the merry-go-round that has been instigated by Mattia Binotto’s recent resignation as Ferrari team principal, it has now left Alfa Romeo spending their off-season in search of a new leader. That’s manageable during December, but teams can’t risk being in that position while racing is going on.

Binotto was the fourth person to hold the role since Todt’s tenure ended. The first change was pre-planned: Todt worked with his successor Stefano Domenicali to prepare him for the role, and he did take Ferrari to the constructors’ title in his first season in charge in 2008.

But Domenicali’s tenure, during a time when Ferrari often did have cars capable of winning races, led to no further titles after that. Ferrari’s poor start to the V6 hybrid turbo era in 2014 spelled the end for him. Domenicali resigned just three races into the season, and by the year’s end Ferrari had only reached the podium twice.

Ferrari picked Marco Mattiacci to replace him: A man with no F1 experience, he became the shortest-serving of Todt’s successors, shown the…