A question of principal
For some years now, a certain drift of Formula 1 towards football had been accentuated, in terms of dismissal of 'coaches'. It's too complex to turn a team inside out and then the manager pays for everyone. Off with the team principal to start again, a mantra heard more and more often in recent years.
It's true that with great power comes great responsibility, but usually Formula 1 properties were calmer (and forward-thinking?) than shown post-pandemic. Corresponding with the category's great economic leap forward, impatience has grown dramatically.
Team principal has become a precarious job
| Team | Team Principal | In office since… |
| Red Bull | Christian Horner | 18 years |
| Mercedes | Toto Wolff | 10 years |
| Aston Martin | Mike Krack | 2 years |
| McLaren | Andrea Stella | 1 years |
| Williams | James Vowles | 1 years |
| Ferrari | Frederic Vasseur | 1 years |
| Sauber | Alessandro Alunni Well done | 1 years |
| Alpine | Bruno Famin | 6 months |
| Alpha Tauri | Laurent Mekies | – |
| Haas | Ayao Komatsu | – |
Since there are 10 stables, you don't need a degree in mathematics to come up with some example percentages: 80% of team principals have been in office for two years or less, 70% have been in the role for just one year. In short, the role of the team manager has become a precarious rolesurprisingly even more than that of the pilots.
An epochal turnaround: Lewis Hamilton has been at Mercedes for 11 years, Max Verstappen at Red Bull for 7 and a half, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris have sat in the Ferrari and McLaren cockpits respectively for 5 championships as has Lance Stroll between Racing Point and Aston Martin, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz have been at Red Bull and Ferrari for 3 seasons: more than a third of the starting grid has not changed for at least three years.
The team principals change rapidly, but not the drivers: a sign that having a top car is the priority, those who drive it a little less.
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