Mattia Binotto Replaces Maurizio Arrivabene as Ferrari Team Principal

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

Scuderia Ferrari has officially replaced Maurizio Arrvabene with Mattia Binotto as their team boss Monday, ending a four-year term that’s notably seen a turnaround and shortcomings.

“The decision was taken together with the company’s top management after lengthy discussions related to Maurizio’s long term personal interests as well as those of the team itself,” said in a statement by Ferrari.

“Ferrari would like to thank Maurizio for his valuable contribution to the team’s increasing competitiveness over the past few years, and wish him the best for his future endeavors.”

The 61-year-old Italian was appointed as Ferrari’s leading man in November 2014 after having its first winless season since 1993 and wound up fourth in the Constructors Championship.

During his run, Ferrari won 14 races, 13 of which were won by Sebastian Vettel, who has been a title contender the past two seasons. However, races such as the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix and 2018 German Grand Prix proved to be season-changing moments at the expense of both Vettel’s driver’s title aspirations and Ferrari’s bid of their first Constructors since 2008.

In both instances, Mercedes and its leading driver, Lewis Hamilton, claimed both titles in those seasons while Ferrari and Vettel finished second.

As a result, tensions between Arrvabene and Binotto became apparent, and gotten to a point where Ferrari felt changes needed to be made and Binotto’s promotion marks the team’s fourth boss in the last five years.

The 49-year-old was appointed as Ferrari’s technical director since the start of 2016, and has been involved in various roles at Maranello since 1995. In his climb to the top of team management, Binotto worked on the engineering side during the Michael Schumacher dynasty before taking a role as chief engineer in 2007, when Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari won both the driver’s and constructors titles.

In 2013, Binotto was a deputy director of engine and electronics, where he played a pivotal role on Ferrari’s improvements with their turbo engine.

Now it’ll be on Binotto’s hands to bring both titles back to Maranello with four-time World Champion Vettlel heading into his fifth season at Ferrari, and F1’s brightest star and new signee Charles Leclerc behind the wheel.