The role of team principal is fairly important in Formula One, as the principal is responsible for hiring and firing drivers and personnel. The TP also has many sporting decisions to make.
A good principal will bring a team forward; a bad one can easily turn an operation into a mess.
Here are our rankings of the current team principals in F1, with some additional notes on future potential principals. If you want to see our list of greatest ever TP’s, then check this article!
1. Toto Wolff (Mercedes)
He had the foresight to buy into Mercedes just when the team was about to become a force. That wasn’t luck – it was a great decision.
Ever since, Toto Wolff has been an excellent boss for Mercedes. He is a bit whiny, but the team dominated for years, and despite having lost supremacy after the rule changes in 2022, Mercedes have still been among the best teams in the sport.
In terms of driver decisions, Wolff has made a few questionable choices: He kept Bottas around for too long, and he promoted Antonelli too early. But these are fairly minor errors. If he manages to sign Verstappen in the future, he will enter the conversation for greatest team principal ever.
2. Flavio Briatore (Alpine)
While Alpine are a mess right now, we know that Briatore is highly capable of success. He is controversial, yes, but no one can deny his achievements. Briatore is great at maximising the potential of teams that don’t necessarily have the most resources, so he should be succesful in this budget-cap era. Flavio has a cut-throat mentality that other leaders lack.
Briatore’s leadership is also why we believe Alpine will improve in 2026 and potentially sign a future star in 2027.
3. James Vowles (Williams)
He was a highly regarded strategist for years, so James Vowles has already proven his worth in F1. While things are progressing rather slowly at Williams, he has indeed managed to make the team more efficient. He also put together the best midfield lineup – and perhaps one of the best overall lineups – with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz. Securing Sainz’ services was an impressive feat, as the Spaniard was also wanted by other teams.
If Williams secure fifth place in the WCC this year, it will prove that Vowles is taking the team in the right direction.
4. Andrea Stella (McLaren)
He was a solid engineer for years, and now he is doing well as an executive. While CEO Zak Brown also makes many decisions, Stella’s efforts may be more limited than other team principals.
Yet, the Italian is still performing extremely well: The more influence McLaren have given him, the more success they have achieved. He’s been the principal since 2023, and while the McLaren success is mostly down to their designers and aerodynamicists, we simply cannot ignore Stella’s solid leadership.
5. Jonathan Wheatley (Sauber)
Wheatley’s had an impressive rise through the ranks in F1. He started as a mechanic with Benetton in the 1990s, and then moved to Red Bull as a manager. After great success with both teams, he became the Sauber principal in April 2025. Since he took over, Sauber began performing a lot better operationally, and has certainly over-performed in 2025.
With Wheatley and Binotto as the leaders, Audi will have a really good management staff right out of the gate.
6. Laurent Mekies (Red Bull)
His track record is fairly average, but Mekies does have a lot of experience and seems to be well-liked by drivers and mechanics.
After he took over at Racing Bulls in 2024, the team saw some improvement and built a really solid car for 2025. Perhaps a bit surprisingly, he was promoted to be the principal of the main Red Bull team. And despite a tough start, they did improve in performance a few months into Mekies’ tenure. If Red Bull nail the 2026 rules change and perform operationally well over the next few years, Mekies will rise in these rankings. One of the most important tasks for him, currently, is convincing Verstappen to stay.
7. Ayao Komatsu (Haas)
It seems like Haas are doing better under Komatsu, and that would be true. But only by default as they had a truly horrible team principal (Günther Steiner) before.
Komatsu is decent, though. Not a fantastic principal, but not a horrible one either. Haas operated relatively well in 2024, and despite a step back in car performance in 2025, Komatsu at least made an effort to improve the driver lineup.
With Haas being the least-funded team on the grid, it will be difficult for the Japanese TP to achieve major success. But if he can keep Haas around the sixth-to-eighth range in the WCC, it will be an accomplishment. Komatsu should preferably focus on younger talents. Bearman was a great signing; and he needs to make sure to contract Rafael Câmara for 2027 when Bearman gets promoted to Ferrari.
8. Frédéric Vasseur (Ferrari)
A super overrated team principal. It was already head-scratching when Ferrari announced that he would take over from Binotto (who was actually a decent TP).
Vasseur was a solid leader in the junior ladder series, where the stakes are smaller, but he didn’t have much success in F1 at Renault nor Sauber. In fact, Sauber have improved in many ways since he left.
And sure enough, Ferrari have only declined since Vasseur took over. It looks like the Scuderia will go win-less through 2025, and in that case, it may be time to consider a new leader.
That probably won’t happen though, as Vasseur for one reason or another is liked by the drivers and the media. But with his below-average management skills, it is unlikely that Ferrari will ever win a title under him.
9. Alan Permane (Racing Bulls)
It’s too early to say whether Alan Permane is a good team principal or not. He’s only had a few months in the role, after all.
During his time at Renault/Lotus/Alpine, results were very mixed. He was well regarded as an engineer, okay as a sporting director, and then – perhaps wrongly – let go by Alpine. Let’s see what he can do at Racing Bulls.
10. Andy Cowell (Aston Martin)
Aston Martin have been a disappointment over the last few years. Despite many infrastructural investments and attracting key personnel, the team continues to underperform. The only years of great success were in 2020 (after copying Mercedes) and 2023 (after copying Red Bull).
The team should improve in the future, but thus far, Aston Martin have only regressed under Andy Cowell. It’s not necessarily Cowell’s fault, but he’s not showing much promise either. Cowell was a very good engineer at Mercedes, though, so he deserves a fair shot as a principal. If Aston Martin show real signs of operational improvement in 2026, Cowell could rise in the rankings.