“The announcement of an imminent change at the top of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team was no surprise, as was the name of his successor, Frederic Vasseur.” – this was the opening line of French sports newspaper L’Equipe, which commented on the news that was reported by every major media outlet yesterday: Ferrari will call time on Mattia Binotto’s career after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend.
According to the French newspaper, ‘bringing together’ Charles Leclerc and Frederic Vasseur was in fact a plan that was already evaluated by Sergio Marchionne, who during the first months of 2018 saw the important and impressive progress made by the Ferrari Driver Academy member. Charles Leclerc made his Formula 1 debut with Alfa Romeo Sauber in 2018 after winning GP3 and Formula 2 in 2016 and 2017. Frederic Vasseur was managing the Hinwil team and is now in pole position to take on the legacy of Mattia Binotto.
“Sergio Marchionne had a plan to reunite Charles Leclerc with the current team principal of Sauber” – we can read in the columns of L’Equipe. Ferrari denied these rumors about Mattia Binotto’s future through a tweet that defined them as “totally without foundation”. This is an inevitable but transitory communication according to the French newspaper: “Nothing has yet been officially confirmed by the Ferrari president, probably in order not to further deteriorate an already tense atmosphere within the Italian team and to allow them to conclude the last Grand Prix this week”. – L’Equipe concluded.
Some Italian media outlets have further reported that current Ferrari racing director Laurent Mekies will also end his time with the Maranello team after the 2022 Formula 1 season, maybe even to take over Fred Vasseur’s role at Hinwil. Iñaki Rueda’s role as Ferrari head of strategy is also reportedly under threat.
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