Ferrari has still not announced if Mattia Binotto will remain as team principal in 2023. The 53-year-old’s time as Ferrari’s boss has come under threat because of their disappointing ending to the 2022 season. The Maranello squad made multiple mistakes that seemed recurring and Binotto being in charge had to face most of the heat. However, according to Italian media, losing Mick Schumacher as a Ferrari junior also contributed to his potential sacking.
The Schumacher name is huge at Ferrari. Michael Schumacher is their and arguably F1’s greatest driver of all time and his son Mick was involved in their ranks for the majority of his junior career. He even joined Haas with the Scuderia backing him but left after his two seasons in F1.
Schumacher is now left without an F1 seat for 2023, and the Ferrari management isn’t happy about that. It is not the only thing that has put Binotto under pressure, but it’s definitely a factor that the Italian team’s bosses have taken into account. Schumacher’s Ferrari exit also means that they are now left without a strong reserve driver for the 2023 season.
Mattia Binotto refusing to choose Charles Leclerc over Carlos Sainz led to backlash at Ferrari
Carlos Sainz joined Ferrari in 2021 after spending two years at McLaren. According to Fulvio Solms from Corriere, the Spaniard’s arrival was a request made by Binotto. The staff and bosses at Maranello wanted Leclerc to be their undisputed number 1 driver.
Throughout the course of the 2022 season, Binotto was adamant about Ferrari not having the main driver. This infuriated president John Elkann and kickstarted his downfall at Ferrari. In the end, it is being heavily rumored that Binotto will resign from his position as team principal in the coming days. However, even if he didn’t resign, it’s likely that he would have been removed.
Ferrari was disappointed that Binotto failed to take control of his drivers. On top of that, Schumacher leaving F1 in 2023 would have also played a huge role in the Swiss-born Italian engineer’s exit from the most successful team in history.
Despite their internal troubles, the entire Ferrari team and the Tifosi will be hoping that they can put their disappointment of the 2022 season behind and focus on bouncing back strongly in the coming year.
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