9. Mattia Binotto

Mattia Binotto (born 3 November 1969 in Lausanne) is a Swiss-born Italian engineer and team principal of Scuderia Ferrari in Formula One.

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Binotto obtained a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in 1994 and then a master’s in motor vehicle engineering at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

In 1995 he joined Scuderia Ferrari in the engine department. He was part of the team during the successful early 2000s. In 2013 he became head of the engine department, before becoming a chief technical officer (CTO) of Ferrari in July 2016, replacing James Allison. During Binotto’s two years as CTO, Ferrari once more competed for regular race wins.

With Ferrari’s 2018 title defeat coming as a result of errors and bad decisions rather than a lack of competitiveness, the board have decided to oust Arrivabene from his role. With the man responsible for the technical direction of the team now in overall control of the Gestione Sportiva, there will be an immense amount of pressure on him. Presumably, after a quarter of a century with the Scuderia and learning from some of the brightest talents ever seen in the sport, Binotto is both politically adept and culturally attuned enough to be able to shrug off the expectations now firmly on his shoulders.

Mattia Binotto recently commented:

Last year, I missed some races because in the end, there is an entire company to manage and it’s not only the race weekend at the race track. There are a lot of things going on back at Maranello, a lot of people to manage, coordinate, and the activity itself.

There’s still a lot of work to do to get the Scuderia back to where it should be and I was pleased to see that the whole team, both at the track and Maranello, is clearly keen to improve.