For better or worse, Ferrari will head into the 2023 season without Mattia Binotto.
The Italian has resigned as team principal of the most famous marque in Formula 1. Given the intensity of the speculation over his future in recent weeks, his departure comes as no surprise – but it may well come at a cost.
The general consensus, at least among the most vocal F1 fans on social media, is that Binotto failed. Considering the spectacular way in which Ferrari's 2022 title challenge crashed and burned, it is unsurprising that so many share that view that the 53-year-old was no longer the right man for the job.
But, as always, context is key. Although Ferrari, under Binotto's leadership, got a lot of things wrong during the season, that only came after a lot of hard work which got them in the position to mount a title challenge in the first place.
Given where they were after the 2020 campaign, that in itself was no mean feat. Sixth in the championship was an embarrassment for Ferrari – their worst season in 40 years, after which it might have been expected that he would lose his job.
But he didn't, and little more than a year later his team had created a car which began this season in Bahrain as the pace-setter. On the technical side, Ferrari did an excellent job and Binotto needs to be given credit for that if he is to bear the brunt of the blame for their failings elsewhere.
The major problem has been in the operational side of the garage. While Red Bull were excellent this year in their in-race decision-making, spearheaded by their excellent strategy chief Hannah Schmitz, Ferrari too often appeared unsure, regularly flip-flopped and, most importantly, too often just got things plain wrong.
Binotto's decision to resign came as he felt he had lost the trust of the brand's top man John Elkann. No doubt the reservations Ferrari's chief executive had over the 53-year-old's suitability to lead the team into 2023 stemmed from those strategy blunders.
But surely the logical thing to do, in that case, would have been to strengthen that area? Under Binotto's guidance the team has excelled on the technical side of things, so why not allow him to continue that good work and bring in new faces to bolster the strategy department?
Instead, Ferrari created a situation in which Binotto felt it was best he moved on. And as the team prepares for another season with a new team principal in charge, it feels like the team has reverted to the way it was run before Jean Todt and Ross Brawn brought them stability and success in the late 90's and early 2000s.
Before that, there was a culture of chopping and changing with alarming regularity. And with leaders not given enough time to bed in and get their projects fully up and running, the Italian team was so often miles away from a title race.
The twitchiness of the top brass at Ferrari is understandable – almost 15 years have passed since they last reached the summit of F1. They are desperate to finally add some more silverware to their trophy cabinet.
But replacing Binotto does not guarantee that will happen. The Italian met Elkann's target of being able to win races in 2022 – but the fact he felt the need to hand in his resignation anyway hints that the team's hierarchy might be too impatient to even stick to its own timeline.
Under new leadership there is every chance Ferrari might be able to mount a successful title push in 2023. But even if that is the case, it will have been built on the strong foundations put in place during Binotto's tenure – and it feels a little harsh that he will not have the chance to see the job through.
