All ten F1 teams have team principals/bosses who are in charge of supervising the daily operations within their outfit.
A team principal is the person who is in overall charge of his/her team, throughout the course of the season. While they aren’t the ones driving, a team’s on track success is usually a parameter when judging a good team principal’s work.
There are other people in charge of several divisions within an F1 outfit, but a principal has to be on top of them all.
They are also responsible for handling their team’s public image to some extent. When a team faces criticism, or is involved in some off-track controversy, it’s up to the team principals to face the media.
Ahead of the 2022 campaign, only two teams have appointed new team principals. Otmar Szafnauer joined Force India in 2009 and was a part of the Silverstone team until 2021. Throughout his tenure, he oversaw two major re-brandings, the latest of them being the return of the Aston Martin name in F1.
Otmar Szafnauer joins BWT Alpine for 2022 after all 👀#F1 #F12022 #Alpine #AstonMartin #Motorsport pic.twitter.com/kQwYfNmCeO
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) February 17, 2022
Szafnauer left Aston Martin after 2021, and has been appointed as team principal of Alpine. To replace the 57-year old, Aston Martin have appointed Mike Krack as team principal.
Mike Krack has been appointed Team Principal at @AstonMartinF1 #F1 pic.twitter.com/i41mNY2tNu
— Formula 1 (@F1) January 14, 2022
F1 Team Principals for the 2022 season:
- Mercedes- Toto Wolff
- Red Bull- Christian Horner
- Ferrari- Mattia Binotto
- McLaren- Andreas Seidl
- Alpine- Otmar Szafnauer
- AlphaTauri- Franz Tost
- Aston Martin- Mike Krack
- Williams- Jost Capito
- Alfa Romeo- Frederic Vasseur
- Haas- Guenther Steiner
Also read: Kevin Magnussen is happy with the rollercoaster qualifying but reckons even more was possible
Team Principals won’t be allowed to talk to Race Directors mid-race 2022 onwards
The 2021 F1 season was riddled with controversy, both on and off track. It was often aggravated due to team principals, in particular Horner and Wolff, trying to pressurize Race Director Michael Masi into making decisions that went their way.
In the end, it led to plenty of infamous incidents, that forced the sport to change its rules. As a result, team principals won’t be able to talk to the director mid-race anymore.
Most of the people in the F1 community support this decision. 2021 Champion Max Verstappen too felt that Masi was unlucky to have had Horner and Wolff on his back all year long.
Masi was sacked as race director after his infamous call at the season finale last December. Verstappen however, feels that the Aussie was being used as a scapegoat to cover bigger problems.
Also read: Lewis Hamilton is moderately satisfied with his performance in Bahrain qualifying
