F1 team principals: Christian Horner, Toto Wolff and others in charge of each team in 2025

Toto Wolff, Christian Horner, Social, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Explained

F1 team principals: Christian Horner, Toto Wolff and others in charge of each team in 2025

GPFans Staff

Friday 14 March 2025 20:00

The 2025 F1 season is already in gear, and the pressure's on! Dive into who's at the helm for each team as they battle for championship glory.

While drivers often steal the limelight, it is the team principals who play a crucial role behind the scenes. These sharp minds are the driving force behind their teams' success, making critical decisions and managing various aspects to ensure victory on the track.

Team principals also act as the public face of their teams, representing them in media engagements and meetings - such as those with the governing body.

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But that's not all; they also play a crucial role in managing the team's personnel, and it is their job to create a cohesive and motivated team environment, foster teamwork, and extract the best performance from each individual.

Now that you have a general idea of what team principals do, get to know who's in charge of each team in 2025.

Red Bull Racing - Christian Horner

The longest-serving team principal on the grid is Christian Horner.

A shrewd F1 politician, Horner has set the team up as a dominant force in the sport and is now overlooking its next enterprise, Red Bull Powertrains, with no indication of backing down just yet.

Ferrari - Frederic Vasseur

Fred Vasseur is the founder of arguably the most successful junior category team in existence—ART Grand Prix—and is credited with turning around Sauber's fortunes to the point where Audi will join the team in 2026.

Yet the Frenchman is an intriguing acquisition by a Ferrari team desperate for success after 14 years without a title.

Looking outside its own contingent of staff is a rare move by the Scuderia, so after Mattia Binotto's failings, will 2025 be the year Vasseur turns the fortunes around?

Mercedes - Toto Wolff

The other half of the Horner-Wolff wars, Toto Wolff has been at the helm since 2013 and, in that time, has overseen the most successful period for a team in F1 history.

Eight constructors' titles in a row, accompanied by seven drivers' championships up to 2021, came to an end the following season under F1's new technical regulations, but the Austrian is far from shying away from the fight.

Charismatic but strong when needed, Wolff has cemented his status as a great of the team principal world.

Alpine - Oliver Oakes

Following the departure of Bruno Famin, the British-born Oliver Oakes stepped in to become the team principal after last year's summer break.

He's still fairly new within his role and is the second-youngest person to step into the position as he did so at 36 years old.

Looking forward to this season, the team will be hoping to improve on last years finishing position of P6.

McLaren - Andrea Stella

Andreas Seidl's replacement, despite taking a leap in stature, is a very worthy successor.

Andrea Stella has a wealth of experience in F1 having served as a performance engineer for Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari before becoming the Finn's race engineer as well as Alonso's.

He became the team principal at McLaren in December 2022. With rumours of a competitive car, can he now steer the ship?

Kick Sauber - Jonathan Wheatley

Jonathan Wheatley, the former Red Bull Sporting Director, was announced as the newest team principal in August 2024.

Like Adrian Newey who has now joined Aston Martin, Wheatley had a period of gardening leave before he could start his new role with the official date yet to be announced.

Aston Martin - Andy Cowell

After first being announced as the new CEO, it was a few months later when it became known that Cowell would also become the team principal.

The position was previously held by Mike Krack who will instead now be the Chief Trackside Officer.

Aston Martin finished P5 last season, with the driver duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll going unchanged.

Haas - Ayao Komatsu

In a shock move, Haas made a significant change in their leadership structure with the departure of long-time team principal Guenther Steiner and the appointment of Ayao Komatsu as his successor from 2024 onwards.

Komatsu has 20 years of F1 experience under his belt and has held different roles with different outfits, including Haas, where he spent seven years as Chief Race Engineer since the team's F1 debut in 2016.

With his extensive two-decade-long engineering background and deep understanding of the team's operations, the Tokyo native seems like the perfect man for the job.

Racing Bulls - Laurent Mekies

After serving as Ferrari's deputy team principal and racing director, Laurent Mekies takes over as VCARB's team principal in 2024, succeeding the retiring Franz Tost.

This marked a return to the Faenza-based team for Mekies, who previously worked there as a chief engineer before leaving to join the FIA in 2014 as safety director and F1 deputy race director.

Williams - James Vowles

Vowles left his position as Mercedes' strategy director in January 2023, having taken the position vacated by Jost Capito at Williams after a disappointing start to life under F1's new regulations.

Can he return Williams to a competitive state with new line-up Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon?

Christian Horner Red Bull Racing