How Vasseur to Ferrari Caused Dominoes to Fall at McLaren, Alfa Romeo

Formula One’s silly season became even more chaotic, but this time, it wasn’t the drivers who triggered it. The team principals brought the mayhem. 

Whether you want to call it musical chairs or a merry-go-round, dominoes began to fall this week in a manner that impacted 40% of the grid. Although Williams’s announcement of Jost Capito stepping aside came on Monday, the moves that involved Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and McLaren on Tuesday seemed to be connected (to an extent). 

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown revealed to select media on Tuesday that Andreas Seidl’s departure was fast-tracked because of Frédéric Vasseur’s move to Ferrari in January. Seidl’s contract with McLaren was until the end of the 2025 campaign, and with Audi set to join in ’26, he had informed Brown of his intention to move to the outfit at the end of his contract. Seidl has a history with the Volkswagen Group, and the team is set to transition to an Audi works group in ’26.

Seidl had made Brown aware of his intentions during the season, the CEO said, adding, “At that time, we intended to continue for the foreseeable future, because the relationship is very, very healthy. And his work discipline is very strong. What we were going to do at that point was, at the end of the season, let the world know that that change would come in at the end of the 2025 season.”

Andrea Stella, who is McLaren’s executive director of racing, was who Brown planned to call when they went public with Seidl leaving, but “not at that point being sure whether that would be something that he would consider,” Brown said.   

That is until Ferrari happened. Mattia Binotto announced his resignation on Nov. 29 but will remain with the team until Dec. 31. Reports and rumors started that Vasseur would make the jump to the Prancing Horse, and Brown said, “When it became clear that Fred was going to go to Ferrari, [Sauber owner] Finn Rausing, who is someone that I've known for a decade, and get along with very well, gave me a call to see if there was a discussion to be had to potentially release Andreas early. My reaction was, if Andrea [Stella] would be happy to join as team principal, then I'd be very happy to make that change now, which I think puts everyone in their permanent homes for the foreseeable future.”

Cue the round of musical chairs that unfolded on Tuesday.

The Prancing Horse confirmed Vasseur would take over as team principal and general manager on January 9, leaving the roles of Alfa Romeo’s team principal and the Sauber Group’s CEO open. McLaren announced soon after that not only would current team boss Seidl be leaving the Woking-based squad but Stella would take his place. Within minutes, the Sauber Group said it appointed Seidl as the next CEO; however, the German would work with Alfa Romeo to find the next team principal. 

And for those wondering, it’s also still not confirmed who will take the helm at Williams.