The 2025 F1 Principals For Each Team

Team principals are the backbone of their Formula 1 teams, orchestrating day-to-day operations that drive success on and off the track.

Their core job is to oversee everything that goes on including managing drivers, engineers, and other team members both at the track and back at the office.

Team bosses also serve as the public face of their respective teams, dealing with the media during race weekends and throughout the whole season. They carry the weight of their team’s performance on their shoulders, and in case things go south, they face the tough task of explaining what went wrong and working to steer things back on track.

Some, like Christian Horner and Toto Wolff, also act as the CEOs of their teams in addition to their roles as team principals.

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2025 F1 Team Principals

Here’s a rundown of who’s at the helm of each of the 10 teams.

1. Red Bull: Christian Horner

In The Role Since 2005

Horner has been steering the ship at Red Bull since the team made its F1 debut in 2005, making him the longest-serving team principal on the grid at the moment.

He began his motorsport journey as a racing driver but soon found his calling in management after founding the Arden team in junior formulae. Red Bull then brought him on board in 2005 as the team boss when the energy drink giants took over the former Jaguar F1 team.

After bringing in F1 design genius Adrian Newey, the Milton Keynes squad enjoyed two runs of consecutive drivers’ championships, with Sebastian Vettel dominating from 2010 to 2013 and also helping the team clinch every constructors’ title during that period.

Then we entered Max Verstappen’s dominant era, during which he claimed each drivers’ title from 2021 to 2024 along with constructors’ championships in 2022 and 2023.

So far, Red Bull has bagged 14 titles with Horner at the helm.

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2. Mercedes: Toto Wolff

In The Role Since 2013

Just like Horner, Wolff started his journey as a racer, having competed in various motorsport disciplines before switching to the business side of the sport.

After investing in the Williams F1 team and taking on the role of executive director in 2012, he made the move to Mercedes a year later and became a managing partner in 2013.

The Austrian then enjoyed a dominant run with the Silver Arrows, leading the team to back-to-back constructors’ and drivers’ championships from 2014 to 2020, with one additional constructors’ title added to their cabinet in 2021.

Wolff holds a 33% stake in the team and currently serves as both CEO and team principal.

3. Ferrari: Fred Vasseur

In The Role Since 2023

Vasseur stepped into the role of team principal at the Scuderia ahead of the 2023 season, taking over from Mattia Binotto who departed at the end of 2022.

The Frenchman previously served as team boss at Renault in 2016 before switching to Alfa Romeo and taking a similar position from 2017 to 2022.

Earlier in his career, Vasseur managed his own team in the junior formulae, having co-founded the ART Grand Prix outfit with Nicolas Todt.

4. McLaren: Andrea Stella

In The Role Since December 2022

Stella took over as McLaren’s team principal in December 2022, stepping in for Andreas Seidl. The Italian made an immediate impact and guided the Woking outfit to their first constructors’ title since 1998 after pipping Ferrari in the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Prior to his promotion, Stella worked with F1 legends like Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, and Fernando Alonso at Ferrari before joining the latter at McLaren in 2015 where he took on the role of performance director and executive director, racing.

5. Aston Martin: Andy Cowell

In The Role Since 2025

Aston Martin appointed Cowell as team principal ahead of the 2025 season, taking over from Mike Krack. He previously served as F1 engine chief at Mercedes from 2013, during which time the team clinched every title from 2014 to 2019.

After leaving the Silver Arrows in mid-2020, Cowell joined Aston Martin in July 2024 as group CEO and has now stepped up to also take on the responsibilities of team boss this year.

6. Alpine: Flavio Briatore

In The Role Since May 2025

A new development in the never-ending saga of Alpine/Renault team principals has emerged, with the French outfit announcing the surprising departure of their most recent boss, Oliver Oakes.

Oakes, who became the fourth Alpine boss in less than four years and made history as the youngest team principal in F1 when he succeeded Bruno Famin in the summer of 2024, has resigned effective immediately on May 6.

The move is widely believed to be linked to the team’s decision to swap Jack Doohan for Franco Colapinto from Imola which was announced in less than a day after the Briton’s resignation.

With that, Flavio Briatore assumes team principal duties alongside his current executive advisor role, which he took in June 2024.

The Italian was previously banned for life in 2009 due to his role in the infamous ‘Crashgate’ scandal at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

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7. Haas: Ayao Komatsu

In The Role Since 2024

Komatsu began his F1 career in 2003 with BAR (now Mercedes) and then transitioned to Renault/Lotus where he served as race engineer for Vitaly Petrov and Romain Grosjean before being promoted to chief race engineer.

The Japanese followed Grosjean to Haas in 2016 and served as the trackside engineering chief – a role he held at the American outfit until he became team principal after Guenther Steiner’s contract was not renewed for 2024.

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8. Racing Bulls: Laurent Mekies

In The Role Since 2024

Mekies stepped into the role of team principal at Racing Bulls in 2024 after the long-serving Franz Tost departed.

The Frenchman started his F1 career as a race engineer at Minardi before becoming chief engineer when the team morphed into Toro Rosso.

He then transitioned to the FIA and served as safety director and deputy race director before joining Ferrari – first as sporting director from 2018 to 2020 and later as racing director from 2021 to 2023.

9. Williams: James Vowles

In The Role Since 2023

Vowles took the reins as team principal at Williams in 2023, making a move from Mercedes where he had made quite a name for himself.

His journey in F1 started back in 2001 with the BAR team, and he has climbed the ranks through the team’s transformations into Honda, Brawn GP, and finally Mercedes.

The Briton was the chief strategist at Brawn GP when the underdog team pulled off shocking constructors’ and drivers’ championships in 2009. He then enjoyed further success with Mercedes during their stretch of consecutive championships from 2014 to 2021, having earned a promotion to motorsport strategy director in 2019.

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10. Kick Sauber: Jonathan Wheatley

In The Role Since April 2025

Wheatley officially took the reins as Sauber’s team principal in April 2025 after spending some time on gardening leave following his departure from Red Bull, where he served as the sporting director.

The Briton spent over a decade with the Benetton/Renault team from 1991 to 2005, climbing the ranks to become chief mechanic. In 2006, he made the switch to Red Bull and has witnessed the team’s dominant run over the years.