Who is the longest serving F1 team principal? Mattia Binotto's exit throws light on interesting statistic

Team principals are some of the most important people in the F1 paddock. They are the leaders of the team and supervise everything that goes around in it. As drivers tear the tarmac on the track, team principals are brainstorming for the best possible strategy for them.

Recently, Ferrari's team principal, Mattia Binotto, parted ways with the team and left F1. Since the scarlet outfit is the most famous and successful team on the paddock, this news sparked up a conversation about team principals in general. While many discussed possible replacements for Binotto, others casually talked about the past and current team principals.

When we look at current team principals, Christian Horner at Red Bull is the longest-running head of a team. He has been the team principal for 17 years, winning five constructors' championships for Red Bull with Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.

Looking at the entire history of the sport, however, the late Sir Frank Williams had the longest run as team principal of a team. He started his own team, Williams Grand Prix Racing, back in 1977 and became its team principal. From then until the Williams family gave the team away to Dorilton Capital in 2020, Sir Frank Williams was at the helm of the team.

Despite his daughter Clair Williams becoming the deputy team principal on the team after 2013, Sir Frank Williams continued to be the main team principal.

Here is an extended list of the 10 longest-serving team principals in F1:

1. Sir Frank Williams in Williams Racing for 43 years (1977 - 2020)
2. Ken Tyrrell in Tyrrell Racing for 30 years (1968 - 1998)
3. Ron Dennis in McLaren for 29 years (1980 - 2009)
4. Christian Horner in Red Bull for 17 years (2005 - Present)
5. Franz Tost in AlphaTauri for 16 years (2006 - Present)
6. Jean Todt in Ferrari for 14 years (1993 - 2007)
7. Toto Wolff in Mercedes for 9 years (2013 - Present)
8. Guenther Steiner in Haas for 6 years (2016 - Present)
9. Frederic Vasseur in Alfa Romeo for 5 years (2017 - Present)
10. Andreas Seidl in McLaren for 3 years (2019 - Present)

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Frederic Vasseur rumored to become Ferrari F1's new team principal

As the 2022 F1 season has come to an end, another silly season has started regarding the team principals of various teams. It all started with Mattia Binotto leaving Ferrari.

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about Frederic Vasseur, the current Alfa Romeo team principal, taking up the job at Ferrari. Since the scarlet outfit is the most successful team on the paddock, millions of F1 fanatics are monitoring every rumor about this move.

Although Ferrari improved quite a lot in the 2022 F1 season, they didn't have the best of reputations amongst fans due to several strategy and team management mishaps. This could've been partially why Mattia Binotto was fired from the position.

Although Alfa Romeo didn't have the best season either, Frederic Vasseur might be able to breathe new life into Ferrari and steer it to success. Of course, there haven't been any official reports from the team regarding the appointment, with several sources hinting that the deal is done.