Ferrari on Tuesday appointed Fred Vasseur as the next boss of its Formula 1 team Scuderia Ferrari.
Vasseur will join the squad on January 9 as the new team boss and general manager. He replaces Mattia Binotto, who announced his retirement last month.
Vasseur is currently Team Principal and CEO of the Sauber F1 Team, which races as an Alfa Romeo and relies on Ferrari powertrains. In 2022 he led the team to a respectable sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
He has over 25 years of motorsport experience and also briefly managed the Renault F1 team in 2016. He also played an important role in Formula E and Formula 2 (previously GP2).
“Throughout his career, he has successfully combined his technical strengths as a trained engineer with a consistent ability to bring out the best in his drivers and teams,” Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna said in a statement. “This approach and his leadership are what we need to push Ferrari forward with renewed energy.”
Vasseur’s predecessor, Binotto, was a Ferrari insider who joined the company in 1995 as a powertrain engineer, eventually becoming head of Gestione Sportiva’s F1 team and motorsport department in 2019. He saw Ferrari’s cars become the fastest in the field in 2022, although a combination of unreliability and some serious strategic mishaps during the season ultimately saw Red Bull Racing win both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished second in the drivers’ race while the team also finished second in the constructors’ race.
Ferrari won’t be the only team with a new boss in 2023. Williams is on the hunt for a new team boss following Monday’s announcement of the departure of Jost Capito.