F1 team principals: Who are they and what do they do?

Red Bull announced today that team boss Christian Horner has been relieved of his duties after 20 years at the helm of the reigning constructors’ champions. As Laurent Mekies prepares to fill Horner’s shoes, here is a roundup of who helms each team on the F1 grid and a look at how the role of an F1 team principal has evolved. 

In the early days of Formula 1, a team boss was the person who founded the constructor. Icons of the series like Bruce McLaren or Frank Williams founded race-winning squads and held leadership roles at those teams for decades. 

These days, the job isn’t quite as secure, and following the departure of Horner the longest-serving team boss has now been in the role for around 12 years, compared with the 43 years that Frank Williams led his team for.

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.

Frank Williams, Williams

Photo by: David Hutson / Motorsport Images

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 regular 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!

Red Bull – Laurent Mekies 

Laurent Mekies, RB F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

• Team: Red Bull
• Time in the role: Since 2025 

Laurent Mekies is only the second team boss in the history of the Red Bull Formula 1 team. 

Trained as an aerodynamics specialist, the Frenchman has been immersed in motorsport for more than 25 years after starting his career in Formula 3. He graduated to F1 with the Arrows team in the early 2000s, before moving to Minardi as a race engineer for drivers Mark Webber, Justin Wilson, Zsolt Baumgartner and Christijan Albers. 

Mekies was promoted to chief engineer when the team was bought by Red Bull and became Toro Rosso in 2006, but left the squad to join the FIA as safety director and deputy race director in 2014.  

He didn’t stay away from the grid for long, and worked with Ferrari from 2018 as head of track operations, then sporting director, and eventually deputy team principal. He returned to the Red Bull junior outfit in 2024 as team principal, before moving to the senior team following the departure of Christian Horner.  

Alan Permane, Racing Director RB F1 Team

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

• Team: Racing Bulls  
• Time in the role: Since 2025  

Mekies’ replacement at Racing Bulls is Alan Permane, who has been working in Formula 1 since he joined the Benetton team back in 1989.  

Permane started out in the electronics department at the Enstone-based team before rising through the ranks and becoming junior/assistant race engineer for Jean Alesi in the 1996 season. For a further 10 years, he worked as a race engineer at the team, alongside drivers including Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli.  

From 2011, Permane was appointed chief race engineer for Renault F1 before he was promoted to the role of sporting director in 2016. He held this position at the team until the end of 2023, after which he switched allegiances to Racing Bulls. After serving as sporting director of the Red Bull junior outfit for a little over a year, Permane said he was “honoured to take on the role as team principal” of the squad.  

Alpine – Steve Nielsen 

Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen

Photo by: motosport.com

• Team: Alpine 
• Time in the role: Since 2025 

Another new signing for the 2025 season is Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen, who joins the team following the sudden departure of Oliver Oakes after the 2025 Miami Grand Prix.  

Nielsen has worked in F1 since 1986 and initially started his F1 career as a truck driver for a Formula 1 catering firm. He subsequently held a number of roles with Lotus, Tyrrell, Honda and Arrows, but is best known for his work with the Benetton team, where he worked with Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore. 

The Brit also worked with Briatore when the Enstone-based team relaunched as Renault and served as sporting director when the squad last won F1 world championships in 2005 and 2006 with Fernando Alonso. He previously held team leadership positions with Toro Rosso and Williams, in 2013 and 2014 respectively.  

Sauber – Jonathan Wheatley 

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal, Sauber

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

• Team: Sauber 
• Time in the role: Since 2025 

Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley was one of many high-profile names to leave the championship-winning team in 2024, and he has subsequently taken on a new role at the head of Sauber as it prepares to transition to become the Audi works team from 2026.  

Wheatley took on his new role as team principal at Sauber from 1 April, following an 18-year stint with Red Bull. He joined the Milton Keynes-based team in 2006 as team manager and then sporting director. In his tenure at the squad, Wheatley oversaw Red Bull’s pitcrew, among other things, and helped it hit record-breaking pitstop speeds. 

Prior to working with the Austrian squad, he was chief mechanic at Renault and, like many bosses on the current grid, began his career at the Benetton team in the 1990s. 

Aston Martin – Andy Cowell

Andy Cowell, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

• 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.

Haas – Ayao Komatsu

Ayao Komatsu, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

• 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.

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. 

Ferrari – Fred Vasseur

Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal and General Manager, Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: Ferrari

• 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 Euro series 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. Under Vasseur, the Prancing Horse has made tangible progress, finishing second in the constructors’ standings in 2024.

McLaren – Andrea Stella

Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1 Team, in the Team Principals Press Conference

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

• 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.

Williams – James Vowles

James Vowles, Team Principal, Williams Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

• 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!

Mercedes – Toto Wolff

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes-AMG

Photo by: Mercedes-Benz

• Team: Mercedes
• Time in the role team: 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 (nee Stoddart), who is currently managing director for the all-female F1 Academy.

By Richard Asher, Ed Hardy and Owen Bellwood