Who are they and what do they do?

The Formula 1 team principal role has consistently evolved over time, where the differences between now and back in the championship’s early years are staggering.

A team boss was once the person who founded the constructor, think Bruce McLaren or Frank Williams, and held the role for decades.

But now, the approach to the role is more like that of football which has managers constantly coming and going.

A trend has also emerged in the recent team principal changes, with squads often going for somebody who has an engineering background – while a knowledge of how teams are run is also desirable. 

So, who are the current 10 team principals and how long have they been in their job?

What is a team principal in F1?

A team principal is the boss of an F1 team, who is in charge of the day-to-day running with the buck usually stopping at them as far as performance is concerned.

In F1’s early years, the team boss role was much broader as not only were they perhaps the owner/founder, but also the person who designed the car (Colin Chapman with Lotus) or one of the drivers (Jack Brabham at Brabham). 

Nowadays, team principals don’t get their hands dirty, much less drive. They’re typically hired employees. They may hold shares, but that’s it as far as it goes in terms of ownership.

The fact that modern team principals are hired reflects the reality that F1 teams no longer operate in isolation. In some cases, they’re part of a wider organisation with which they share skills, people, premises and history – Ferrari being the classic example here.

Red Bull, on the other hand, is an example of a team owned by an entity from an entirely different world. Between these two extremes, there’s a range of ‘governance’ set-ups. But it suffices to say that F1 team principals all have bosses. Bosses who want a return in terms of results.

What does an F1 team principal do?

The one thing every F1 team principal does is serve as the public face of the team. They give endless press interviews in which they speak on the team’s behalf, both away from the track and during race weekends.

They also represent the team’s interest in the political and sporting sense, for example in meetings with the governing body, race stewards and other teams. Though they’ll typically have specialists at their side depending on the occasion, this is where diplomatic and business skills come in handy.

Another essential role is that of people management – shaping a (hopefully) winning environment and structure. Sure, you can be an engineer at your core, but a team principal can’t be the type of person who will hide at the back of the garage and pore over numbers. As is the case for the head of any organisation, they’ll need to be able to step back, see the bigger picture and make decisions accordingly.

One of those decisions – and probably the most important – is what they should rather delegate than try to do themselves. An F1 team is made up of highly specialised people such as race engineers, strategists and mechanics. Nearly all of them know more about their specialist area than the boss does. So it’s key for the team principal to ensure the right people are hired, given the right structure to work in, and then trusted.

That said, some team principals are more hands-on than others. This is where styles will differ according to their management philosophy and skill sets. Some may prefer to take a supervisory role in all things. But for others, if there are areas where they can offer specific expertise, then they may do exactly that!

Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes AMG

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Mercedes – Toto Wolff

• Team: Mercedes
• Time in the role: Since 2013

Toto Wolff is not only team principal of the Mercedes F1 Team but also a part-owner holding a 33% stake in the company. He’s responsible for all Mercedes-Benz motorsport activities, much in the manner of his German predecessor Norbert Haug.

Wolff was a handy racer, but switched his focus to sportscar racing after a stint in Formula Ford in Austria and Germany in the early 90s. He gathered a few successes without setting the world alight, and his motorsport legacy will undoubtedly be his more recent work off the track. He was a director with Williams before switching to Mercedes, where he and his countryman Niki Lauda – who passed away in 2019 – became synonymous with the successes of Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and more.

Wolff is married to Scottish former race driver Susie (previously Stoddart), who is currently managing director for the all-female F1 Academy.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing Team Principal

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull – Christian Horner

• Team: Red Bull Racing
• Time in the role: Since 2005

Like Wolff, Christian Horner is a former driver. He went a lot further in terms of single-seater racing, however, reaching the lofty heights of Formula 3000 in the late 1990s. At that point, he founded the Arden team, which makes Horner one of the last owner-drivers to have competed at a high level in single-seaters. By the end of 1998, however, he had decided that his strength lay behind the pitwall rather than behind the wheel.

Seven years after quitting driving at the age of 25, Horner graduated from F3000, in which Arden had by then amassed multiple titles. Red Bull, who bought the Jaguar F1 squad, appointed Horner boss of its eponymous operation for its debut in 2005. It proved a perfect match, with the Briton overseeing the team’s gradual rise to frontrunner status, and then a glut of titles for Sebastian Vettel and later Max Verstappen. Unmoved from his pitwall perch to this day, Horner is also famous for his ‘restless leg’ during tense races – and being married to Spice Girl Geri Halliwell-Horner.

Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal and General Manager, Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: Ferrari

Ferrari – Fred Vasseur

• Team: Ferrari
• Time in the role: Since 2023

Fred Vasseur came through the ranks as a team boss in much the same way a driver would. After studying engineering and aeronautics, the Frenchman founded his own team in 1996. Running initially under the ASM banner, and later as ART, it gathered trophies for fun in the junior formulae. Among other successes, Vasseur oversaw Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 3 Euroseries and GP2 titles in the mid-2000s.

With a CV like that, it was perhaps inevitable that F1 teams would come calling. Sure enough, Vasseur joined Renault as team principal in 2016. But despite the French connection, the relationship only lasted a year. When Vasseur next surfaced in mid-2017, it was on the German-speaking side of Switzerland, where he took up a similar position with the Sauber team, which took on the Alfa Romeo name during his time there.

The Italian link was a hint of things to come: in the great team principals’ shuffle of late 2022, Vasseur was announced as replacement for Mattia Binotto at Ferrari. In Vasseur’s first year Carlos Sainz won the Singapore Grand Prix before the Scuderia sealed third in the championship.

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal Alpine F1 Team

Photo by: Alpine

Alpine – Oliver Oakes

• Team: Alpine
• Time in the role: Since 2024

The Alpine management structure has undergone consistent change. In July 2023, Laurent Rossi (CEO), Otmar Szafnauer (team principal) and Alan Permane (sporting director) all left their respective roles resulting in Bruno Famin taking the job of interim team boss.

Famin, who comes from an engineering background, was then confirmed as Alpine’s permanent team principal in February 2024 only to leave five months later to return to Renault’s – Alpine’s parent company – Viry-Chatillon base.

His replacement was Oliver Oakes, who at the age of 36 became F1’s second youngest ever team principal after Christian Horner took over Red Bull when he was 31-years-old. But, the Briton still arrived at Alpine with a wealth of experience in motorsport having been team boss of F2 and F3’s Hitech GP since 2015, winning various races and mounting numerous title challenges at the helm. 

Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

McLaren – Andrea Stella

• Team: McLaren
• Time in the role: Since 2023

With Andreas Seidl having moved to join his old chums at Sauber following a four-season stint as McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella stepped into the German’s shoes at the British outfit for January 2023.

This represented an internal hire: Stella was promoted from his role as executive director for racing. And there’s a lot more to it than the convenience of not having to change the initials on the team principal’s headset: the Italian came with a vast amount of hands-on engineering experience. He worked with the likes of Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso at Ferrari before following the latter to McLaren in 2015. In his first season at McLaren, the team finished fourth in the championship scoring an impressive nine podiums and a sprint race victory. 

Stella then played a crucial role in McLaren’s first constructors’ title for 26 years, as it pipped Ferrari to the 2024 crown.

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal, RB F1 Team

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Racing Bulls – Laurent Mekies

• Team: Racing Bulls
• Time in the role: Since 2024

Laurent Mekies replaced the long-serving Franz Tost as Racing Bull’s team principal for the 2024 F1 season – when it was branded as RB. It was a big change at Red Bull’s sister squad as Tost began the role in 2005 – then known as Toro Rosso – but announced in April 2023 that he would be leaving the position at the end of the year.  

That month Mekies was announced as Tost’s replacement, with the Frenchman returning to the Faenza-based squad having left his role as chief engineer in 2014 after joining the set-up in 2002. He left to become the FIA’s safety director and by 2017 he had been appointed as race director before moving to Ferrari in September 2018 as sporting director. Mekies became a pivotal figure at Ferrari as he was later appointed as deputy team principal and racing director in 2021 ahead of his return to RB for 2024.  

Ayao Komatsu – Director of Engineering

Haas – Ayao Komatsu

• Team: Haas
• Time in the role: Since 2024

Ayao Komatsu replaced Gunther Steiner as Haas team principal for the 2024 F1 season after the American outfit finished bottom of the 2023 championship. It cost Steiner his job, a role he started in 2016 for Haas’ debut season, with Komatsu becoming the first Japanese team principal of a European-based team.

More: Guenther Steiner interview – How to become an F1 team principal

Komatsu began his motorsport career in 2003 as a tyre engineer for British American Racing, before moving to Renault three years later as a performance engineer. He was later appointed as Vitaly Petrov’s race engineer for the 2011 season ahead of partnering with Romain Grosjean the following year. Komatsu subsequently became chief race engineer at Lotus in 2015 but joined Haas with Grosjean a year later, where he became trackside engineering director. He held that role for eight seasons before becoming Haas’ team boss.

Andy Cowell, Group Chief Executive Officer, Aston Martin team member in the garage

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Aston Martin – Andy Cowell

• Team: Aston Martin
• Time in the role: Since 2025

Andy Cowell replaced Mike Krack as Aston Martin’s team principal for the 2025 season. The switch came after Cowell first joined the organisation in July 2024 to replace Martin Whitmarsh as group CEO after working for Mercedes’ High Performance Powertrains division between 2013 and 2020.

As a result of the change, Krack is now the chief trackside officer for the Silverstone-based squad after just under three years in his previous position. Cowell has vast experience in motorsport and as well as playing a crucial role in the championship wins for Mercedes, the Briton has also served as an engineer for BMW and Cosworth.

James Vowles, Williams

Photo by: Williams F1

Williams – James Vowles

· Team: Williams
· Time in the role: Since 2023

James Vowles made his name in F1 as a pitwall strategist – he served as Mercedes’ motorsport strategy director in the four years leading up to his move to Williams. But that was just the culmination of over two decades at the team based in Brackley – Vowles was also a British American Racing, Honda and Brawn man before the 2010 rebranding to the three-pointed star. He worked closely with Wolff in the leadership team during some of Merc’s most dominant times.

But with Wolff firmly at the top of the Mercedes tree, the Briton would have to switch teams if he wanted to be in charge of one. So when an opportunity arose at Williams – one of the Silver Arrows’ technical partners – following Jost Capito’s departure at the back end of 2022, Vowles took it. He turned 44 in 2023, making him one of the paddock’s younger team principals while Vowles lifted Williams from bottom to seventh in the championship in just his first season as boss.

Two points on the Vowles CV are unusual for F1 top brass. First, he holds a specific motorsport degree from Cranfield University. And second, you could call him an active racing driver following his appearances in the Asian Le Mans Series during 2022!

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Alfa Romeo F1 Team Managing Director and Team Representative

Photo by: Alfa Romeo

Sauber – Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Xevi Pujolar, Beat Zehnder

· Team: Sauber
· Time in the role: Since 2023

As any motorsport rule-maker will tell you, it’s never very long before teams will find some new way to come at a problem. So it’s no surprise that even the venerable role of team principal came in for a spot of innovation heading into 2023 when Sauber (then known as Alfa Romeo) decided to go into the campaign with a ‘management structure’ instead of a traditional individual boss.

How does it actually break down? Former Trident GP2 team principal Alessandro Alunni Bravi is ‘team representative’ and performs the diplomatic functions of a team principal with the F1’s bosses, sponsors and media. The Italian, who has also worked as a driver manager (with Robert Kubica among others), has been part of the Sauber operation as a board member since 2017.

Other parts of the job are carried out by experienced Spanish head of track engineering Xevi Pujolar and the team’s stalwart, home-grown sporting director Beat Zehnder.