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Ferrari have denied all the rumors that have been building up about the apparent change in their personnel. It has been rumored for some time that Mattia Binotto, the team's principal, will soon be replaced by Fred Vasseur, who is the Italian's counterpart in Alfa Romeo.
The team, however, has denied this and labeled it 'totally unfounded rumors' in a recent press release. It read:
"In relation to the speculations that appeared in some press organs relating to the position of the Team Principal of the Scuderia, Mattia Binotto, Ferrari announces that these are totally unfounded rumors."
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Mattia Binotto has been the team principal for Ferrari since 2019 after he replaced Maurizio Arrivabene, having been a part of the team for a long time before that. It was back in 1995 when he joined them in the engine department. He was a crucial part of the team during their dominance era in the early 2000s with Michael Schumacher, and before he was promoted to principal in 2019, he was working as the chief technical officer.
While his technical skills have been of help to the team, not everyone has been impressed with him as the principal. This year, for the first time in several seasons, Ferrari had the potential to win the championship. The hopes, however, slid away to Red Bull due to strategic errors and similar technical issues. Many blamed Binotto for these mistakes and felt that he should be replaced.
Ferrari were rumored to get Fred Vasseur as their principal
Interestingly, when it was reported that Ferrari will replace Mattia Binotto as their team principal, his replacement's name was also doing the rounds. The name surprisingly was Fred Vasseur, who currently serves as the CEO, managing director, and team principal of Alfa Romeo.
Alfa Romeo has shown signs of improvement under Vasseur's leadership; hence, he was thought to be a potential replacement for Binotto. Moreover, the Frenchman's experience in racing and motorsports was expected to offer more technical knowledge than the team currently possesses.
Binotto has been the subject of heavy criticism from Scuderia fans because of the transparent loss the team has faced. They were extremely close to winning the championship under Arrivabene, but after Binotto started leading the team, they fell back. Although 2020 had a completely different story to their loss, this year's loss even in a championship-winning car under his leadership has been apparent.
