Mattia Binotto's Ferrari exit will have Mercedes or Red Bull 'smiling', feels F1 pundit

F1 pundit Martin Brundle believes Ferrari's decision to replace team principal Mattia Binotto with Sauber's Frederic Vasseur will benefit Mercedes and Red Bull in the 2023 season.

Brundle insists that "continuity is everything" in F1 and that the lack of consistency within the team will prove to be quite a struggle for the Prancing Horse.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Brundle stated that Binotto should have been given more time.

"I'm not quite sure why Ferrari would choose now to have a month without a boss. I do think they should have given Binotto more time. If I was Mercedes or Red Bull right now, I'd be smiling because continuity is everything."

Speaking about the struggles that Vasseur is likely to face, in regards to adjusting to the team and taking on arguably one of the toughest jobs in the sport, he added:

"As Formula 1 seasons get longer and more intense, you have to be careful of these sea changes of personnel. Mercedes have got real continuity, as have Red Bull in key personnel. Vasseur has got to go in and find his way, get established, understand, and it's a tall order.

He added that this change will destabilize the team.

"It doesn't matter who you are, it's going to take time unless you are a part of the fabric like [former boss Stefano] Domenicali was and like Binotto has been. It is such a fundamental change and it will destabilise them in the short term, it has to. Everybody will be slightly off balance thinking, where do they stand, and what's next. They'll be in limbo."

The team can hardly afford to have yet another disappointing season next year, given the glory that the team enjoys as a brand. While Vasseur enjoys an established relationship with Charles Leclerc, it would be interesting to see how he manages to bring the team together. Also interesting to see would be whether or not he can take it back to its championship-winning days.

Ferrari needs a more "powerful team boss" than Fred Vasseur, says F1 journalist

F1 journalist Edd Straw, too, does not fully understand why Ferrari chose to replace Binotto with Vasseur. He emphasized that while he does see how Vasseur could benefit the team in some ways, what the team really needs in this time of struggle is a "powerful team boss."

As reported by The Race, Straw analysed what could be the expectations from the new boss:

“I totally get why, if you’ve hired someone like Fred, you’re maybe not expecting him to be a big political heavyweight or anything like that, and you want him to just be in charge of running the team and making sure he’s getting the best out of the people involved, and just leaving a bit more of the bigger picture stuff, more conceptual things, to your company CEO perhaps. But I’m not really convinced at all, that, that’s what Ferrari needs.

“It feels like they’ve almost gone the wrong way, in that if anything, they needed a more powerful team boss to deal with all that.”

Ferrari finished the 2022 F1 season second in the constructors' championship with a whopping 205-point deficit to Red Bull.