Two unexpected new candidates for position of Ferrari team principal

As a result of the conclusion of the 2022 Formula One world championship alongside the winter break and Scuderia Ferrari’s hesitation in appointing the new team principal, it is clear that all the Italian and international newspapers are reporting different possibilities, as the Maranello team is in search of the best candidates to take over Mattia Binotto at the top of the Ferrari Racing Department.

Just this week, Scuderia Ferrari officially announced the resignation of the Italian engineer, which will become effective on 1 January 2023, and the Maranello management has announced that it has started the process to identify the new manager of the team.

These internal analyzes will be carried out without haste, so much so that the Prancing Horse company has confirmed that the appointment of Mattia Binotto’s successor will take place in January, as the former boss held not only the role of team principal, but also that of technical director.

The German site F1-Insider, in an article written by Ralf Bach, has identified as many as seven candidates for the most prestigious office of the Sport Management: some names are widely known, while others are decidedly surprising candidates. It starts with Christian Horner, for whom an offer would have been made “already in mid-2021“, which he discussed with the Red Bull leaders, giving a negative response to Maranello.

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Subsequently Franz Tost, number one of Alpha Tauri, “who has already refused the first offer from Maranello and intends to continue with Red Bull”. Then two other known options, Andreas Seidl of McLaren “who said no a year ago and received a new offer”, and Frederic Vasseur of Alfa Romeo Sauber, a name proposed – according to F1-Insider – “by Nicholas Todt who spoke to the Italian media, […] some suspect to prevent him from entering the Scuderia“.

Even more surprising is the name of Monisha Kaltenborn, the former Sauber boss, who is currently managing director of Racing Unleashed. During her time in Formula 1 she “had good contacts with the Ferrari management and impressed with her leadership qualities”; but her choice would be unlikely “because the Maranello team would not yet be ready to entrust the leadership of the team to a woman”.

The figure of Laurent Mekies – current sporting director of the Scuderia – would be the classic “internal solution“, although his close relationship to Mattia Binotto would advise against his promotion.

Another new name reported by the German website is that of Jonathan Giacobazzi, who “could have a good chance”. Heir to the well-known family that owns a winery – and whose father, Antonio, was a close collaborator of Enzo Ferrari and personal sponsor of Gilles Villeneuve -, the Italian “knows the team perfectly”, having been part of it in various roles since 2013 and until January 2019 as Executive Race Manager and has acted as a link between the racing team and Ferrari’s top management, so much so that he is described as a “close confidant of both John Elkann and Piero Ferrari”.

Finally Antonello Coletta, GT manager of the Prancing Horse, but currently indispensable given the 2023 Le Mans-Hypercar project.