How long the current F1 team principals have been in charge | 2025 F1 season. How long have F1 team principals been in charge?.

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner
Christian Horner, in an interesting interview last August, reflected on the changing role of the team principal compared to when he first started: “Toto Wolff and I are probably the two ‘dinosaurs’ of our category. The dynamics and definition of what a Team Principal is today are very different from when I started in this role. I believe many of them come from a technical background, where they are very focused on technology and perhaps the regulations, rather than thinking about business and the bigger picture.”

And on January 7, Christian Horner marked 20 years of service as Red Bull team principal, an achievement far from certain, especially after the harassment case at the start of last season, which made his position at the helm of the Anglo-Austrian team quite shaky.

How long have F1 team principals been in charge?

Team	Team Principal	In charge since…
Red Bull	Christian Horner	20 years
Mercedes	Toto Wolff	12 years old
McLaren	Andrea Star	2 years
Ferrari	Frederic Vasseur	2 years
Sauber*	Alessandro Alunni Good	2 years
Williams	James Vowles	2 years
Racing Bulls	Laurent Mekies	1 year
Haas	Ayao Komatsu	1 year
Alpine	Oliver Oakes	5 months
Aston Martin	Andy Cowell	–

* The new team principal Jonathan Wheatley has already been announced for 2026
As for Christian Horner and Toto Wolff (in office since January 2013), in third place is Andrea Stella of McLaren (since December 2022), followed by Frederic Vasseur of Ferrari (January 2023) and James Vowles of Williams (February 2023).

The case of Sauber is particular, as it does not have a true team principal but a team representative, Alessandro Alunni Bravi since January 2023, and it has already been announced that the TP role will be filled by Jonathan Wheatley starting from 2026.

The list is completed by Laurent Mekies at Racing Bulls and Ayao Komatsu at Haas, both since January 2024; Oliver Oakes at Alpine since last August, and finally Andy Cowell at Aston Martin since January 10, 2025.