“No One Knows”: Ferrari Posed With Daunting Question After Kicking Mattia Binotto to the Curb

Ferrari’s F1-75 was the talk of the town at the start of the 2022 season. The team had developed a car that they had promised to the Tifosi for years. And based on their performance up until Monaco, they were in for the championship on both fronts, drivers and constructors. But not everything went according to the Ferrari’s plan, and the ship sank a few weeks later. And as the ship sank, so did its captain, Mattia Binotto.

 The Italian resigned once the season finished, and the team brought on Fred Vasseur, Alfa Romeo’s team principal, to lead the prancing horse. Binotto’s exit from Ferrari has been controversial, with many calling him the scapegoat for the board as the Tifosi believe the team needs more changes than just a new team principal.

However, this exit has been validated by the FIA President. According to Motorsport NextGen Auto, Muhamed Ben Sulayem said, “It was a performance-based decision. I think it was the right one.”

Speaking on the belief of many that Ferrari has become too Italian and wants to stay that way, Ben Sulayem disagreed and said, “At the time when Ferrari were winning, they had a lot of diversity. But it’s not about having Italians, French or Germans. It’s about finding the right person.”

He added, “Even if all the teams had the same engine and the same team director, only one would win at the end. So do they have the right ingredients? No one knows except Ferrari.”

READ MORE: Audi Given Word of Advice Approaching Sacked Ferrari F1 Boss Mattia Binotto

What Vasseur can achieve with the existing team will be seen in the pre-season testing. But with Binotto gone, the team will surely miss his technical expertise that would have gone into developing the F1-75.

Ferrari’s record under Mattia Binotto

Binotto joined Ferrari in the engine department in 1995. He was thus a member of the same team behind Michael Schumacher’s spectacular run in the early 2000s.

After several promotions and becoming the CTO in 2016, Binotto replaced Maurizio Arrivabene as the team principal in 2019. Since then, under his leadership, the team has won on seven Sundays, with merely four coming in 2022 and three in 2019. During his tenure, he managed Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc, and Carlos Sainz as the team’s drivers.

WATCH THIS STORY: Speculations End as Mattia Binotto Resigns After Troubled Season for Ferrari

Binotto’s departure may have caused some high-level changes in the team. But what many believe is that Ferrari needs to change the way it functions and makes crucial decisions. Would Vasseur be the right man for them? We can only wait to find out.