While most of the Formula One spotlight might be on the team drivers, there are a crucial bunch of people who play an important role in their team’s success. The Team Principals are the ones who are incharge of the entire team and its smooth functioning and while they might not get all the attention always, it is a thankless job and crucial to any team’s success.
Ahead of the 2024 season, we take a look at the team principals of all ten teams and get to know them a bit better.
A former racer himself, Christian Horner has been synonymous with Red Bull. Having been the Red Bull boss since the team’s inception in 2005, Horner is currently the longest-serving Team Principal on the grid.
Under Horner’s leadership, Red Bull have won seven Drivers’ Championships (Sebastian Vettel: 2010–13 | Max Verstappen in 2021, 2022 and 2023) and six Constructors’ Championships (2010–13, 2022 and 2023).
Prior to joining Red Bull, Horner was the team boss of International Formula 3000 team Arden International Motorsport.
Ferrari team boss Vasseur started his motorsports career in 1996, when he founded the ASM team in the Formula 3 series. The ASM team found considerable success before Vasseur, along with Nicolas Todt, formed the ART Grand Prix team in 2004, which took part in the GP2 series.
Vasseur moved to Formula One in 2016, joining as the Team Principal of Renault. He left the team at the end of the 2016 season. He then joined Sauber as Team Principal, CEO, and Managing Director in July 2017 and remained in the role until December 2022, when he was announced as the new Team Principal of Scuderia Ferrari.
After a short stint with Williams Racing, Toto Wolff joined Mercedes as Team Principal in 2015, replacing Paddy Lowe. Wolff, who is also a board member of the Mercedes team, has gone on to revolutionise the team, having overseen their untouchable dominance during the turbo-hybrid era.
Wolff has helped Mercedes deliver eight Drivers’ Titles (Lewis Hamilton: 2014, 2015, 2017–20 | Nico Rosberg in 2016) and eight Constructors’ Titles (2014–21).
The Italian engineer started his Formula One career in 2000 with Ferrari, joining them as a Performance Engineer for their test team. In 2002, he was promoted to the role of Performance Engineer of Michael Schuamcher, in which he remained till Schumacher’s retirement in 2006.
Stella then served as Kimi Räikkönen’s Performance Engineer between 2007 and 2008 before becoming his Race Engineer in 2009. He performed the same role for Fernando Alonso between 2010 and 2014.
Stella left Ferrari and joined McLaren in 2015 as Head of Race Operations before becoming their Performance Director in 2018 and later Racing Director in 2019. He remained in this role until December 2022, when he was announced as McLaren’s new Team Principal, replacing Andreas Seidl.
Krack started his motorsport career with BMW in 1998, joining the team as a Test Engineer. He left this role in 2001 to join Sauber, joining as a Data Analysis Engineer, before becoming Felipe Massa’s Race Engineer in 2003. Krack remained with the team and served as the Chief Engineer of the team until 2009.
Krack then worked with Kolles & Heinz Union and Hitech in Formula 3 before re-joining BMW as Chief Engineer of their DTM department in 2010. He joined Porsche in 2012, becoming their Head of Track Engineering for their World Endurance Championship.
Krack joined BMW again in 2014 and served as their Senior Performance Engineer. He remained with them till 2022, when he was announced as the new Team Principal of Aston Martin.
Bruno Famin was announced as the interim Team Principal of Alpine in July 2023, replacing Otmar Szafnauer.
Famin started his motorsport journey in Peugeot Talbot Sport in 1989 before becoming the Technical Director of Peugeot Sport in 2005. In 2012, he was promoted to the role of Director of Peugeot Sport.
Famin left Peugeot Sport in 2019 to join the FIA, serving as Director of Operations for their sports branch. He then joined Alpine in February 2022 as CEO in charge of engine development before becoming the interim Team Principal in July 2023.
Bravi served as a Managing Director and Team Manager of Formula 3000 International team Coloni Motorsport between 2002 and 2003. He joined WRC Rally team Italia Sardinia as General Manager before serving as GP2 Series side Trident Racing’s Team Principal and Managing Director in 2005.
Bravi joined Sauber Group in 2017 as a board member and General Counsel before becoming Managing Director in 2022. Ahead of the 2023 season, he was appointed as the Team Representative of Alfa Romeo — becoming the only boss on the grid without an official “Team Principal” tag.
The Alfa Romeo team were officially rebranded as “Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber” in January 2024.
Ayao Komatsu replaced Guenther Steiner as Haas’ Team Principal in January 2024. He started his career with British America Racing in 2003 before moving to Renault in 2006 as Performance Engineer.
Komatsu joined Haas in 2016 in their debut season, having come on board as Chief Race Engineer before moving up to the role of Director of Engineering.
Mercedes’ main strategist during the turbo-hybrid era, Vowles was announced as Williams’ Team Principal in January 2023. He replaced Jost Capito as the third-ever Williams Team Principal.
One of the sport’s most iconic and celebrated teams, Williams will be hoping that Vowles take them back to the front of the grid.
One of the most experienced people on the grid, Laurent Mekies is the team principal of the newly-rebranded Visa Cash App RB F1 Team.
Mekies started his motor-racing journey with Asiatech in Formula Three before moving to F1 with Arrows. He then moved to Minardi, where he served as Race Engineer. When Red Bull bought the team, Mekies was promoted to the role of Chief Engineer in 2006. He left Toro Rosso in 2014, joining the FIA as Safety Director before becoming Deputy Race Director in 2017.
Mekies moved to Ferrari in September 2018, joining as Sporting Director and also taking charge of the Track and Performance department between 2019 and 2021. He also served as Deputy Team Principal and Racing Director before it was announced in July 2023 that he would replace Franz Tost at AlphaTauri, who were rebranded as “Visa Cash App RB F1 Team” ahead of his first full season with them.
We take a look at the Team Principals of all ten F1 2023 teams and get to know them a bit better.
Also read: Formula One 2023: Driver Line-ups
A former racer himself, Christian Horner has been synonymous with Red Bull. He has been the Red Bull team boss since their inception in 2005 and is the longest-serving Team Principal on the grid along with Franz Tost.
Under Horner’s leadership, Red Bull have won six Drivers’ Championship Titles (Sebastian Vettel: 2010–13; Max Verstappen: 2021 and 2022) and five Constructors’ Championship Titles (2010–13 and 2022).
Prior to joining Red Bull, Horner was the team boss of International Formula 3000 team Arden International Motorsport.
Ferrari’s new team boss Frédéric Vasseur started his motorsports career in 1996, when he founded the ASM team in the Formula 3 series. The ASM team found considerable success before Vasseur, along with Nicolas Todt, formed the ART Grand Prix team in 2004, who took part in the GP2 series.
Vasseur moved to Formula One in 2016, joining as the Team Principal of Renault, but left the team at the end of that season. He then joined Sauber as their Team Principal, CEO and Managing Director in July 2017 and remained in the role until December 2022, when he was announced as the Team Principal of Scuderia Ferrari.
After a short stint with Williams Racing, Toto Wolff joined Mercedes as their Team Principal in 2015, replacing Paddy Lowe. Wolff, who is also a board member of the Mercedes team, has revolutionised the German team, having overseen their untouchable dominance during the turbo-hybrid era.
Wolff has seen eight Drivers’ Titles (Lewis Hamilton: 2014, 2015, 2017–20; Nico Rosberg: 2016) and eight Constructors’ Titles (2014–21) during his time at Mercedes.
An Italian engineer, Stella started his Formula One career in 2000 with Ferrari, joining the team as a Performance Engineer for their test team. In 2002, he was promoted to Performance Engineer of Michael Schuamcher, a role in which he remained till Schumacher’s retirement in 2006. He then served as Kimi Räikkönen’s Performance Engineer between 2007 and 2008 before becoming his Race Engineer in 2009. He continued on with the same role for Fernando Alonso between 2010 and 2014.
Stella left Ferrari and joined McLaren in 2015, becoming their Head of Race Operations. He then moved to Performance Directorship in 2018 and Racing Directorship in 2019. Stella remained in that role until December 2022, when he was announced as McLaren’s Team Principal, replacing Andreas Seidl.
Krack started his motorsport career with BMW in 1998, joining the team as a Test Engineer. He left the role to join Sauber in 2001, joining as a Data Analysis Engineer, before becoming Felipe Massa’s Race Engineer in 2003. Krack remained with the team and served as their Chief Engineer until 2009.
Following that, Krack worked with Kolles & Heinz Union and Hitech in Formula 3 before re-joining BMW as Chief Engineer of their DTM department in 2010. Krack joined Porsche in 2012, becoming their Head of Track Engineering for their World Endurance Championship. He joined BMW again in 2014, serving as their Senior Performance Engineer, and remained with them till 2022, when he was announced as the Team Principal of Aston Martin.
Otmar Szafnauer started his career with Ford Motor Company in 1986, joining as the Programmes Manager for Ford in the USA before leaving them to become Operations Director for the British American Racing in F1 in 1998. He remained in that role until 2001, when Honda signed him as the Vice President of Honda Racing Developments and also as a member of the Management Board of the Honda Formula One team. Szafnauer left Honda in 2008 and joined Force India in 2009.
Szafnauer remained with Force India and served as their Team Principal even when they were rebranded as Racing Point and then bought over by Aston Martin. He left the team in 2022, joining Alpine as their Team Principal.
Bravi has previously served as a Managing Director and Team Manager of Formula 3000 International team Coloni Motorsport between 2002 and 2003. Bravi joined WRC Rally team Italia Sardinia as General Manager before serving as GP2 Series’ team Trident Racing’s Team Principal and Managing Director in 2005.
Bravi joined the Sauber Group in 2017 and was a Board Member and General Counsel before being appointed as Managing Director in 2022. Ahead of the 2023 season, Bravi was appointed as the Team Representative for the Alfa Romeo team and is the only one on the grid who doesn’t have an official “Team Principal” tag.
Also watch: Best F1 tracks of all time (Ranked)
Steiner began his motor-racing career way back in 1986, when he started off as a mechanic in the World Rally Championship for the Mazda Rally Team Europe. He shifted to Italian team Top Run Motorsport in 1989, joining as the Assistant Team Manager, before moving to World Rally Championship team Jolly Club in 1991, serving as the Head of Reconnaissance and Technical Manager till 1996.
Between 1997 and 2000, Steiner worked with Prodrive’s Allstar Rally Team and M-Sport before moving to the Ford World Rally Team in 2000, joining the team as Director of Engineering. He then moved to Formula One in 2001, joining Jaguar Racing as their Team Principal. Steiner was with the team until 2003, when he was replaced by the top management.
Jaguar was bought by Red Bull in 2004, and Steiner re-joined them as Technical Operations Director in early 2005. He also served as Red Bull’s NASCAR team Team Red Bull’s technical director between 2006 and 2008 before starting his own manufacturing firm, Fibreworks Composites, in early 2009.
For the next couple of years, Steiner looked at opportunities to return to Formula One with an American team, and when Gene Haas announced that Haas would be joining the grid in 2016, Steiner was announced as their Team Principal in 2014. Since then, Steiner has remained at his position of Team Principal with the American Formula One team.
The main Mercedes strategist during the turbo-hybrid era, Vowles was announced as Williams’ Team Principal in January 2023. He replaced Jost Capito as Williams’ team boss and is only their third-ever Team Principal.
One of the sport’s most iconic and celebrated teams, Williams will be hoping Vowles help them return to the front of the grid.
Former Austrian racing driver Franz Tost has been the Team Principal of AlphaTauri since 2005. The team that were previously known as Scuderia Toro Rosso were acquired by Red Bull in the same year, and Tost left Williams to join and lead the sister Red Bull team.
The 2023 season will be Tost’s 19th season as Team Principal. He is one of the longest-serving Team Principals on the grid, having been with the team since 2005. Tost is also set to be replaced by Laurent Mekies at the end of the 2023 F1 season, with the Austrian stepping down after spending almost two decades with the team.
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