Preparation Preseason F1 2023

Krack Assesses F1 Principal's Role Too Overrated in Season 2023 

Mattia Binotto's departure from Ferrari caused a domino effect which eventually affected several teams.

Fred Vasseur left his seat at Alfa Romeo to fill the void. The team from Switzerland chose Andreas Seidl. Those recruits in turn left a hole in the other team. This time it was McLaren, where Zak Brown chose Andrea Stella.

To make up for the mess, Jost Capito and Williams ended their relationship, so the British team signed James Vowles, who previously served as strategy director at Mercedes.

The change makes Krack from Aston Martin now the fifth longest-serving principal in F1, even though he joined Aston in January 2022, just before predecessor Otmar Szafnauer left for Alpine.

"I was shocked by how events unfolded, especially in such a short amount of time," said Krack.

But with F1 teams evolving into organizations with strong, decentralized leadership structures, Krack thinks the role of crew chief may not be as important as it once was.

"This all suggests that the principal role of the team might be a bit redundant, because if you can replace someone quickly without making a big impact... that says something," he said.

"It looks like you could give this job to anyone or someone from another team. I was surprised by the quick signings we saw. I wasn't expecting it."

Frederic Vasseur, Principal of Alfa Romeo Racing, Mike Krack, Principal of Aston Martin F1 and Franz Tost, Principal of Scuderia AlphaTauri during a press conference.

 

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

"In addition, we must not forget that F1 teams have become large organizations where the owners are no longer the team managers."

"All sports, whole organizations take different paths. Some have engineers as team managers, others have more archaic rules. But we'll see where we go."

The man from Germany is of the opinion that stability in a team is still important to enable a quick decision-making process.

"I think consistency and stability is very, very important," said Krack. "You have to have trust in people so you don't have to argue all the time if you want a different direction, or if you want to grow your company or business in a different direction."

 "These are not unilateral decisions. They are decided after collective debate about which path is best to follow. This is about managing an organization in a certain style."