In parallel to the changes in the steering wheel and the entry of new drivers (four arrivals), Formula 1 in 2023 warms up with a real earthquake in the sports management of the teams. Up to four changes have been precipitated in just two days after the resignation, on November 29, of Mattia Binotto as Ferrari's main team after four seasons in office. The appointment of his successor, Fred Vasseur, from Alfa Romeo, has been followed, like dominoes, by Andreas Seidl, Andrea Stella and Jost Capito.
Ferrari made public this Tuesday the appointment of Fred Vasseur, 54, as the new boss of the Scuderia. The Frenchman, who passed in F1 by Renault (2016) and Alfa Romeo (2017), has the great challenge of making a Ferrari team champion again that has not hunted a title since 2008 (of Constructors) and since 2007 the of pilots (with Kimi Räikkönen).
Immediately after the Ferrari announcement came the appointment of the German Andreas Seidl as the new executive director of Sauber (which now runs as Alfa Romeo), to lead the transition of the Swiss structure to its new stage as Audi in 2026.
The 46-year-old German had been McLaren's main team since May 2019, when he was hired by Zak Brown. He had previously been in charge of Porsche in endurance, with which he had achieved three victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 2015 and 2017. He also worked in Peter Sauber's team in the BMW-Sauber era.
The third tectonic movement has been the appointment of Andrea Stella as the new head of McLaren, replacing Seidl. The 51-year-old Italian engineer promotes in the Woking team, where he arrived in 2015. Until now he held the position of Director of Production, under the command of Seidl.
Stella, who has a degree in Aerospace Engineering and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, is one of the engineers who has worked with the most stars in F1: he was a performance engineer for Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen (2002-2008) and a race engineer. by Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso (2009-2014).
Parallel to these changes and substitutions, the German Jost Capito (64) has resigned as sports director and CEO of Williams, together with the technical chief François-Xavier Demaison. Capito, who had been head of Ford of Europe, CEO of McLaren in F1 and former head of Volkswagen Motorsport, had been at Williams for two seasons.
