“He Held Onto It Longer Than I Thought”: Toto Wolff Opens Up on the Dark Side of Being Ferrari’s Team Principal After Mattia Binotto’s Departure

The news is confirmed. Ferrari will end their long relationship with Mattia Binotto after this year ends. Arguably, it all started when the Ferrari board lost confidence in the Italian engineer, which eventually resulted in Binotto cutting his ties with Scuderia after 28 long years. Although the story is yet to fully unravel, we fans can be sure of one thing. Being a team principal, especially at Ferrari, isn’t a straightforward job.

Binotto was under heavy scrutiny from Ferrari’s chairperson John Elkann, following a disappointing stint of four years. And now when the news broke out about Binotto’s departure, Toto Wolff opens up on the dark side of being a team principal at Ferrari.

When Toto Wolff was asked by Tom Clarkson for his reaction to the Mattia Binotto news on Beyond the Grid podcast, he said, “I think Mattia and I had our moments, and it’s no secret over these many years. But in a way, we consolidated that in 2022, we were in a much, much better place.”

“It was always clear that he was under tremendous pressure. Being a team principal at Ferrari You better have a good contract for your exit. And now probably unavoidable happened, but he held onto it longer than I thought,” he added.

READ MORE: “May Not Be Toto Wolff but…”: Mattia Binotto Given the Benefit of Doubt Despite Problematic Ferrari Era

Ferrari astonished everyone with their flashing speed on the tracks, winning 2 out of 3 initial races. But later on, strategic failures and driver errors made the situation worse. Something similar happened with the Silver Arrows, who had a lackluster performance this season. However, their later resurgence has given the Mercedes boss hope that the Brackley-based team will not repeat Ferrari’s failed title campaign.

Toto Wolff is sure to make a strong comeback

The Silver Arrows’ successful dominance ended with a disastrous 2022 season as the Brackley-based side just won a single Grand Prix at the Brazilian circuit. However, the team showed some resurgence as the season was nearing its end. In light of this, Wolff said, “Of course, we are talking about it, we are analyzing what are the reasons the teams that dominated in the past suddenly lost performance.” 

Giving an example of another top team who had a miserable season, Wolff added, “You can see with Ferrari, they lost the whole top leadership and a key driver… I think that’s something you can trace back. “

The performance of both drivers has given Toto Wolff confidence that this season will not mark the demise of the German manufacturers.

He added, “We are 100 percent sure that this was a year that was necessary for us to re-energize and re-motivate the team. This has again brought us down to the ground, made us appreciate how you win, and also understand how difficult it is to recover.”

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Ferrari is without a leader right now and if the replacement isn’t as good as Binotto, Scuderia might again struggle to find a top spot in the upcoming years. Who, according to you, is the best-suited replacement for the Italian engineer?