F1 Today – 29/11/2022
Binotto resigns as Ferrari team principal
Mattia Binotto has resigned as Ferrari team principal and will leave the team after almost thirty years at the end of December. The Italian’s future has been under increased pressure after the team’s catalogue of errors and reliability which stopped them from challenging Red Bull for the title.
Binotto worked his way up through the company to first head the engine department, then be technical director of the entire F1 team and finally to lead it. A statement from Ferrari on Tuesday said the 53-year-old had resigned from his role and that the process to identify a replacement was “underway”.
Binotto, who has been with Ferrari since 1995, said: “With the regret that this entails, I have decided to conclude my collaboration with Ferrari. It is right to take this step, as hard as this decision has been for me.”
“I am leaving a company that I love, which I have been part of for 28 years, with the serenity that comes from the conviction that I have made every effort to achieve the objectives set.” Binotto’s departure comes two weeks after the Italian team said reports of him being replaced by Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur were “totally without foundation.”
But during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix despite that statement it was clear that Binotto was on his way out after five years. Ferrari admitted that chairman John Elkann and Binotto had “discussed openly what was the best way to move forward” and “decided to release a statement that was maybe the best way to close any speculation”.
chief executive officer Benedetto Vigna thanked Binotto and wished him well, adding that his work meant the team were “in a strong position to renew our challenge, above all for our amazing fans around the world, to win the ultimate prize in motorsport”.
Binotto has paid the price for not addressing Ferrari’s weaknesses this year. While the team did return to competitiveness, Ferrari squandered their first winning car since 2018 with a series of operational errors and reliability failings.
Their driver Charles Leclerc left the third race of the season with a 46-point lead over eventual champion Max Verstappen. Three races later, astonishingly, the Red Bull driver was in a lead he never lost.
Binotto’s ability to hang on to his job for years after the disastrous 2020 season, showed something of a culture change but 2022 was always going to be make or break. If it is Vasseur who replaces him, he is a safe pair of hands and he has delivered results with the resources he has had in the past.
The big question of what next for Ferrari?
Mattia Binotto’s resignation from his post as Ferrari’s team principal may appease the many who called for him to go, but its consequences could prove dire for the team. As we know, he was the easy target for everything which went wrong on track, the Italian also lead the team back to fight Red Bull.
However the reliability and strategy errors that grabbed the headlines in 2022, it was his many under-the-radar qualities that were key to having got the squad back to the front in the first place. It maybe premature as the lessons may not have been understood.
Ferrari still stick to an old style of team principal, with its remint being technical aspects of engines, cars, and their operation, as well as the politics of the F1 paddock, the FIA, and the media. Many of the technical roles at other teams have been given to a chief technical officer, operations to the chief operations officer or team manager. The pressure also of carrying a country’s expectation on your back.
In losing Binotto, Ferrari is instantly without a team boss who had perhaps the most in-depth comprehension amongst his peers of car/engine design and performance parameters, as well as a direct understanding of the challenges and compromises of making a race-winning package.
Ferrari has a big question do they modernise the teams structure, but with three months to get the 2023 car together the resignation comes at the most important time of year. Any replacement could be on the back foot immediately, given the decade or more of stability at Red Bull and Ferrari.
Getting calls wrong in the early stages of next year could cost immediate lap time if the team ends up going down the wrong path, and spending restrictions mean little opportunity for U-turns.
In the last decade, Ferrari has gone through three team principals, now F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali resigned in April 2014 after getting the 2014 regulations wrong, as Mercedes embarked on seven years of dominance. His replacement, Maurizio Arrivabene was ousted in what appears to be a coup admits reported tensions with Binotto in January 2019.
Take both its main rivals, Red Bull and Mercedes, they have largely had fifteen and ten years of stability with their respective team principals and technical teams.
Binotto’s mentality was always one of supporting individuals and making sure that, if mistakes were made once, then they were not repeated. There was a clear opportunity for Ferrari to suggest that he bring in someone senior alongside him to ease him of any responsibilities that were a distraction, and drill down deep in addressing the team’s weak spots.
whoever Ferrari gets in as Binotto’s successor is going to inherit a bit of a poisoned chalice, as there will be no excuses for anything less than dominating F1 next year.
Ocon happy to see Alonso leave Alpine
Esteban Ocon has taken a parting shot at former Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso, saying the Spaniard barely did any work to push the team forward. The two collided during the sprint in Sao Paulo, ahead of the two-time champions’ departure to Aston Martin.
Alonso was increasingly critical of Alpine and his teammate over the final races of this year’s season. At the penultimate event in Sao Paulo Prix, he and Ocon collided during the sprint race and blamed each other. When asked if he needed to smooth things over with Ocon, Alonso said: “No, not really. I don’t need. It’s one more race then it’s over, finally!”
Ocon was frustrated at how Alonso handled the situation and hinted that it will be better for the team that he is driving elsewhere next year.
Speaking to French press ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Ocon said: “Of course, I was disappointed by that his comments were made in the press and not internally. We didn’t have any discussions about any of that. I will keep the respect I have for him.
“It’s good that he’s going to Aston Martin and that we’re going our own way. Honestly, the work was 98 percent on my back and 2 percent on his. I was overworked. I did all the development on the simulator, the marketing trips.”
Throughout his two-decade career, Alonso has often found himself at the centre of controversy, including with Alpine’s predecessor Renault over a decade ago, and has often been described as difficult to work with. Ocon is being joined by fellow Frenchman Pierre Gasly next year.
There are questions about how well that partnership will go, as Ocon and Gasly have had an up and down relationship ever since they were kart racing together as kids.
Alonso ‘very impressive’ in first Aston Martin outing
Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack says that Fernando Alonso was “very impressive” when he made his first outing for the team in Abu Dhabi. The two-time champion will join the team next year from Alpine on a multi-year deal.
Krack said Alonso was immediately fast, adding “the efficiency of transmitting messages” was “very impressive”. Saying, “It was straight to the point at all times. Very friendly, open and transparent.”
Krack said he believed Alonso’s determination and will to win would have a transformative effect on Aston Martin. He told BBC News, “With Fernando, I always hold up this picture of [this year’s] Mexican Grand Prix of his frustration at not having finished seventh [because the car broke down]. This is an example of dedication and motivation.”
“So if you have someone with this with this passion and drive to win, it has an impact on the team. We could clearly see that everybody was really happy to have this guy in the car last Tuesday. So I think he ignited maybe another spark from his own passion and desire to win onto the team.”
Alonso has replaces four-time champion, Sebastian Vettel, at Aston Martin, following the German’s retirement, and has signed a deal that will keep him at the team for at least the next two years. Krack said Alonso was “different” from Vettel, who had driven for Aston Martin since 2021, but shared some key characteristics.
Saying they have a common focus on improving and progressing, as well as isolating what makes them progress. Krack was speaking at a news conference as Aston Martin near the completion of a state-of-the-art factory at their base at Silverstone.
The event was the first time new technical director Dan Fallows had spoken to the media since joining the team from Red Bull earlier this year. Fallows said he believed that in conjunction with aerodynamicist Eric Blandin, who joined from Mercedes at the same time, he could add a “clarity of purpose and direction”.
Fallows was involved in the conception of the Red Bull car that dominated the 2022 season with Max Verstappen, but he said that Aston Martin had to find their own route to success.
The team are due to move into their new factory in early 2023, with the site at Silverstone due to be fully operational by mid-2025. That is when the third building, containing a gym, canteen, wellness centre and corporate entertainment facilities, will open the year after that.
Krack described the new factory as a “game changer” for the team in the five-year plan owner Lawrence Stroll has set them to be capable of competing at the front by 2025.
Norris still has faith in McLaren
Lando Norris insists he maintains “faith” in McLaren, despite warning the team “can’t be satisfied” with their 2022. The Englishman finished best of the rest in seventh, behind the top three teams drivers, but the team lost fourth in the constructors’ championship to Alpine.
Norris penned a new contract with McLaren before the start of the 2022 season that ties him to the team until the end of 2025, but the quality of his performances undoubtedly make him one of the most desirable drivers on the grid. Asked about his future he told Sky Sports, “It’s just faith, it’s just honesty – that’s the main thing I need. I’m not a guy who likes BS or likes people trying to make me happy, I like people just being honest.”
“It’s just faith, it’s just honesty – that’s the main thing I need. I’m not a guy who likes BS or likes people trying to make me happy, I like people just being honest. I have faith in McLaren, I have faith in the guys I work with, the whole team.”
Like many teams, McLaren had hoped that this year’s regulation change would have seen them close the gap to the front. However, the brake issues they had in Bahrain, both in the test and race, left the team on the back foot for the whole season playing catchup.
Norris highlighted his brilliance by becoming the only driver outside of the top three teams to claim a podium during the season. The Englishman was eighty-five points clear of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo and thirty points ahead of his nearest challenger Esteban Ocon.
He added “from where we were in race one, I think we’ve done a good job – we recovered well. If I think of before this season, did we achieve in 2022 what we should have done as McLaren? Honestly, it’s no.”
Albon feels he need winter to get back to fitness
Alex Albon believes he will need the winter to get back to 100% fitness after suffering from appendicitis and respiratory failure during the Italian Grand Prix. The British-Thai driver withdrew from the race and underwent emergency surgery for appendicitis before complications led to respiratory failure.
He was ultimately discharged a few days later and returned to racing at the Singapore Grand Prix. In Singapore, Albon said he was “fit as I can be” and pain-free to return, albeit at one of the most physically-challenging races on the calendar, which was followed by another tough race at Suzuka one week later.
Asked by Motorsport.com following the end of the season in Abu Dhabi if he had got back to 100% fitness since Monza, Albon said, “I would say [I need the] winter to get to 100%. We didn’t have the time to train to really get back that fitness, so yes. But realistically speaking, Singapore was tough, Japan was 75%, and after Japan, I felt pretty good.”
This season Albon returned to the sport this year following a year out as Red Bull’s reserve driver, but this year he has lead Williams. He finished in the points three times two of which were down to bold strategies making up for its lack of performance compared to its midfield rivals.
But Albon felt that being fit for Monza was the biggest opportunity he missed this year given how well-suited the FW44 car was to the high-speed layout. His stand-in for the race, Nyck de Vries, finished ninth.
Albon added, “I feel like the biggest one was being healthy for Monza, that would have been my main points opportunity. Other than that, I’m not sure. I really do feel like in the moments where we’ve had the chance to score points, we have.
“Unfortunately that’s where we are this year. It’s been a year where we’ve had everything to go perfectly for us, a bit of fortune as well, and that gets us into the points.”
But he admitted the team didn’t want to repeat this year next season, saying they have been working hard to nail the balance issues. He said however that the team are maximising their opportunities showing they are operating correctly.