Ferrari has released a short statement to put down the rumours of Mattia Binotto being axed as its F1 team principal.
After Mercedes secured its first win of the 2022 F1 season in Brazil, coming back from a disastrous start to its campaign, the Italian media started with stories of Ferrari dropping Binotto from his team principal position on Tuesday afternoon.
Multiple leading Italian publications reported of the same as they noted that the results in Brazil was icing on the cake for the decision. In fact, they suggested that John Elkann was looking to replace Binotto already at the end of the 2021 F1 season.
Among internal shuffle, Alfa Romeo Sauber team boss Frederic Vasseur was being reported as the person to take over from Binotto. The Frenchman moved up to F1 with Renault before switching to the Swiss outfit and leading them in a fine manner.
In addition to Vasseur being roped in, some reports also suggested the return of Simone Resta in the technical team after he worked on the 2022 project with Haas. Due to the increasing number of races, Binotto has missed several races this year.
It is a strategic decision much like the other teams with Laurent Mekies incharge of the team in place of Binotto. But the Italian has taken time out to speak with the media from Maranello, where he is mostly based during the race weekends.
With the fight for second on in the championship, even if Binotto is safe for now, the Italian will need titles as soon as possible to retain his position. “In relation to speculation in certain media regarding Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto’s position, Ferrari states that these rumours are totally without foundation,” said the statement.
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