Following reports that Ferrari will announce Mattia Binotto’s replacement before Christmas, time is running out for the Italians to name who’ll take over the poisoned chalice, as the end of yet another year edges ever closer.
Binotto’s departure from the Maranello-based team will be an emotional one, given that the Italian has called the team his ‘home’ for the past 28 years.
A much younger looking Binotto joined Ferrari in 1995 as an intern originally, before working his way through the ranks at the Scuderia.
He has been on hand to see the team claim several titles, mostly thanks to seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher, who won five consecutive titles from 2000-2004.
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In the four years that he’s been team principal, though, the team have failed to replicate the highs experienced at the start of the century.
In Binotto’s defence, though, every Ferrari team principal since Stefano Domenicali has failed to bring a title home for the famous side, meaning the Italian is certainly not alone.
His official final day as the team’s boss is the 31st December; however, it has been speculated that his replacement will have been announced by then.
Whilst the likes of Andreas Seidl and Christian Horner have been linked to the role, Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur is the favourite to take his seat at the Ferrari throne, something Charles Leclerc appears in support of.
Leclerc knows the Frenchman incredibly well, with Vasseur having given the Monegasque driver his F1 debut back in 2018.
Speaking at the FIA prize-giving gala, where he collected the trophy for Vice-Champion, the 24-year-old discussed his opinion on Vasseur becoming Ferrari’s team principal and how his honesty is a trait “that I like”.
“Ferrari is a very different team to any other team. I can only comment on my experience with Fred which obviously has been good,” Leclerc said at the FIA prize-giving gala in Bologna.
“I have been working with Fred already from the junior categories where he has believed in me and we have always had a good relationship.
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“But apart from that, obviously, it shouldn’t influence any of the decisions.
“He has always been very straightforward, very honest and this is something that I like from Fred.
“Whether it will be him or not, I don’t know, and we will see, hopefully, in the next few months.”