Ferrari Fights Back to Take the Upper Hand After Red Bull F1 Boss Christian Horner Looks the Other Way

The 2022 season ended with another heartbreak for Ferrari as the team, that was all set to pick up their first title after a long gap, failed to show its mettle during the second half of the season. As a result, Chairman John Elkann has now cut ties with the long-standing team principal of the Prancing Horse, Mattia Binotto. The Scuderia boss will step down from his position at the end of this year. Since the news broke out, there were several names linked to the role. One among them was Christian Horner, who has looked the other way now.

Post Binotto’s resignation, as per reports, Christian Horner was asked to be the next Ferrari boss. But as the Briton refused, former sporting director, Cesare Fiorio, as a few words to say.

“I have a positive opinion about Binotto and I think he should have stayed,” Fiorio told Autosprint. “With the F1-75, he has put a competitive and advanced machine on the asphalt. He is a very good engineer, but as team principal, he still needed some experience.”

With all the talk surrounding Horner turning down the Scuderia deal, Fiorio fought back, saying, “I don’t believe he declined the job. He is someone who could have performed the task well.” [Translated using Google]

READ MORE: Reports Suggest Number 1 Replacement For Mattia Binotto For Ferrari F1 Throne

Binotto’s resignation didn’t come as a surprise, as it was followed by frustrations over poor reliability, strategy errors, and driver mistakes. Besides, the rollercoaster season of the Prancing Horse and the loss of confidence from the management made the Italian engineer take the crucial decision.

However, F1 pundit Martin Brundle concedes the Binotto move ‘strange’, if no top-notch entity replaces him.

Martin Brundle believes removing Mattia Binotto was a ‘strange’ call from Ferrari

The rumors prevailed for a long time regarding management losing confidence in Mattia Binotto and the Italian’s journey as the team boss ended when Ferrari accepted his resignation. As of now, Ferrari is willing to include a new boss in their setup after this year’s end. However, there’s a widespread belief that the squad has gambled its chances for next season after removing Binotto as it’s a loss of both experience and technical aspects.

F1 pundit Martin Brundle, at the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Annual Awards dinner, said, “You’re working for a country there at Ferrari, not just a team, of course. They’ve lost their chief technical officer and their team principal, so unless they have got somebody very, very good to replace him straightaway, it all looks a little bit strange. But that’s the nature of it.”

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So close yet so far. These words sum up the story of one of the most successful teams in Formula 1 in this past year.
That being said, will removing Binotto solve the puzzle for Ferrari, or will it add to the miseries?