It has been an intense day for Formula 1 and fans: a few new F1 team bosses have been officially confirmed in just several hours, most importantly the announcement of Fred Vasseur replacing the departed Mattia Binotto at Scuderia Ferrari. Andreas Seidl has left McLaren to be CEO of Sauber (Alfa Romeo) and his shoes are being filled by Andrea Stella. This has all happened less than a day following the confirmation that Jost Capito would be leaving the struggling Williams outfit after two seasons with the team.
According to F1 expert Piergiuseppe Donadoni (formu1a.uno) there is an interesting backstory behind Andreas Seidl’s decision to leave Mclaren and move to Sauber, taking up a high-profile role within the group.
The Swiss team will be bought by Audi, with the acquisition of 75% of the shares on a three-year basis starting from 2023, and the German sports executive and engineer will play a key role in the German company’s entry into Formula 1 from 2026.
The McLaren Formula 1 team initially planned for Andreas Seidl to continue in his role as team principal until the end of the 2025 Formula 1 season, ahead of his move to Audi, but things changed when Ferrari confirmed that Mattia Binotto would leave the Maranello team, a move that accelerated the process.
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McLaren chief executive officer Zak Brown confirmed that Andreas Seidl had already announced McLaren a few months ago of his plan to leave the team when his current deal ended in 2025 with the goal of moving to the Sauber Group CEO for its transformation into Audi’s new Formula 1 team. But as officially confirmed this morning, this is now happening at the start of 2023.
Fred Vasseur was assessed as an unsuitable person to lead the important German project. According to formu1a.uno, Ferrari also made an offer to Andreas Seidl for a long-term project in Maranello, but the German motorsport engineer decided to stick with his plan of signing for Sauber/Audi. Aware that there would be no room for him at Sauber/Alfa Romeo, it seems that Frederic Vasseur approached John Elkann for the position of Ferrari team principal and a pre-contract agreement was signed five months ago, with the deal becoming official this week.
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