Team principal, one of the most sought after jobs in the F1 industry. To be a team principal is to be at the top of your game and career with a team’s success for a season riding on your shoulders. But what does it take to be a team principal and what is it they actually do?
It might surprise people to learn that there are no fixed CV requirements to get the most coveted job in F1 outside of being a driver! It is good to have a background in engineering and a working knowledge of how teams are run but former racers, skilled management types, and hard-line businesspeople have also stood up to the task. If you possess a little of all the above it seems you will go far in the team management game!
In simple terms, the team principal is the boss. The team’s performance as well as financing begins and ends with them. However, things become more complicated when looking at teams individually. There was a time when team principals and owners were one in the same while also being heavily involved with the teams as either drivers, mechanics, or designers. Nowadays the team principles are often hired separately for the specific job of team management and although they may be shareholders within the team, they do not own it.
What do they do?
An F1 team principal serves as the public face of the team, they give endless press interviews where they speak on behalf of the team during race weekends as well as away from the track. They are also the representative chosen to attend meetings with the governing body, race stewards, and other teams. Although they will also have specialists by their side, they will be the face of the operation.
One of the biggest parts of the team principal role is people management. They are there to create a winning environment and structure and keep everyone happy, so they produce their best work for the team. The team principal often overseas the hiring and firing of the top specialist roles in race engineering, strategy, and mechanics to ensure they find the best fit for their team.
Each team picks their team principal based on what they want their focus to be. In 2023 there were several changes of leadership in the F1 teams in an attempt to reshape the teams and inject a spark back into the teams and give them the energy to work hard to catch up with the engineering masterpiece of the Red Bull. The problem with being a team principal is that when something goes wrong or your team fails to perform, the blame ultimately comes back to the top and the team leader is often the first to be replaced in an effort to fix the team for the following year. It can take a long time for a new team principal to integrate into the team and become an effective leader while also navigating the press storm that follows the changes.
Who are they in 2024?
Team: Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
Principal: Toto Wolff
Start Year: 2013
Wins as principal: 115
Team: Oracle Red Bull Racing
Principal: Christian Horner
Start Year: 2005
Wins as principal: 113
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Principal: Fred Vasseur
Start Year: 2023
Wins as principal: 1
Team: BWT Alpine F1 Team
Principal: Bruno Famin
Start Year: 2023
Wins as principal: 0
Team: McLaren Formula 1 Team
Principal: Andrea Stella
Start Year: 2023
Wins as principal: 0
Team: Scuderia AlphaTauri
Principal: Laurent Mekies
Start Year: 2024
Wins as principal: 0
Team: MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
Principal: Ayao Komatsu
Start Year: 2024
Wins as principal: 0
Team: Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team
Principal: Mike Krack
Start Year: 2022
Wins as principal: 0
Team: Williams F1
Principal: James Vowles
Start Year: 2023
Wins as principal: 0
Team: Stake F1 Team
Principal: Alessandro Alunni Bravi
Start Year: 2023
Wins as principal: 0
Who do you think will have the most success as team principal in 2024?! Leave a comment below!
Written by Cesca.
The Fastest Sector 