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Having an experienced team principal in an F1 team is one of the most important elements that keep a team running since they are the ones who manage everything about it.
Sure, there have been examples of principals who led their teams to excellence despite having minimal experience in the field of motorsports. But, at the same time, their age defined their working ability.
One might question how old an F1 team principal can be, rather, how old they have to be to become the boss of an entire Formula 1 team. There might be no particular age when a person can become an F1 team principal, and hence, all 10 teams are managed by people of very different age groups.
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Here is a complete list of the Formula 1 team principals, sorted from oldest to youngest (all the ages mentioned are as on 20th July 2023).
#9 Franz Tost of AlphaTauri (Age - 67)
Franz Tost is the oldest team principal on the grid currently, managing the works of AlphaTauri. He was born on 20 January 1956 and has had a long span of working in Formula 1.
He joined the sport back in 2000 and was made the team principal of Toro Rosso in 2005. Toro Rosso later changed to AlphaTauri and he has since been in the same role, becoming one of the longest-serving team principals. His retirement after the 2023 season was earlier announced; he has spent 18 years in the role.
#8 Guenther Steiner of Haas (Age - 58)
Other than being known as the face of Netflix's Drive to Survive, Guenther Steiner is also known for his spell in Formula 1, which started back in 2001 with Jaguar. He worked for the team then and later for Red Bull.
When Haas was founded in 2014, he was asked to lead the team by Gene Haas, the owner, which he has been doing since.
#7 Frédéric Vasseur of Ferrari (Age - 55)
Vasseur has been related to motorsports for a long time. He worked with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in ART Grand Prix before they made their way into Formula 1.
Vasseuer got into Renault but left soon, later moving to Sauber (Alfa Romeo). He worked there as their team principal till 2023, when he shifted to Ferrari, replacing Mattia Binotto.
#6 Andrea Stella of McLaren (Age - 52)
Stella worked with Ferrari for one-and-a-half decades from 2000, winning multiple championships with Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen. He then moved to McLaren in 2015 and was promoted to team principal this very season.
#5 Toto Wolff of Mercedes (Age - 51)
Toto Wolff is one of the most well-known team principals in F1. Becoming the team principal of Mercedes in 2013, he has had an immense hand in bringing the team a record-breaking number of consecutive championships. It is more impressive to learn that his experience in motorsports was near to being null.
#4 Mike Krack of Aston Martin (Age - 51)
Krack has been in F1 since 1998 and made his way through the ranks of Sauber when they merged with BMW. He briefly left the sport to be involved in the junior series, Formula 3.
He was also the Head of Track Engineering of Porsche's WEC team for some time. He was made the team principal of Aston Martin in Formula 1 in 2022. The team's successive graph this season has an immense effort from him.
#3 Christian Horner of Red Bull (Age - 49)
Horner became the youngest team principal in F1 (at the time) when he was chosen for the role back in 2005. Red Bull had bought Jaguar F1 and rebranded it to their brand.
He has been in the same role since, still serving and making history with the team who had a spell of domination from 2010 to 2013 and has established it once again in this era.
#2 Alessandro Alunni Bravi of Alfa Romeo (Age - 48)
Bravi has been with Alfa Romeo since the 2017 season and was appointed as their Managing Director in 2022. After Frederic Vasseur left the team for Ferrari, he was promoted to the 'Team Representative' of the Sauber Group this season.
#1 James Vowles of Williams (Age - 44)
Vowles has had a long history of success in F1. He was with Brawn GP during the 2009 season and assisted them throughout the season as their chief strategist.
Later, he was appointed by Mercedes where he worked for 12 years. In 2019, he was promoted from their chief strategist to Motorsport Strategy Director. Although he was seen as Toto Wolff's successor for team principal, he moved in 2023 to take over the role at Williams.
His work with the team seems apparent as they have lifted themselves up from the bottom of the standings this season.
