La silly season in Formula 1, as a rule, it concerns the drivers. In this winter between 2022 and 2023, however, there are also a lot of movements regarding the Team Principals. In this case, after resignation of Mattia Binotto, it was the heads of Jost Capito in Williams e Frederic Vasseur in Alfa Romeo. Now, a new piece of the puzzle has popped up: we're talking about Andreas Seidl, Team Principal of McLaren since 2019, who is leaving that role and the Woking team today. Instead of him, the Woking team announced the internal promotion of Andrea Stella from Executive Director to Team Principal.
McLaren has released a press release to greet Seidl: “McLaren Racing announces that Andrea Stella will change his role from Racing Executive Director to Team Principal of the Formula 1 team with immediate effect. Andreas Seidl will leave the team for another personal challenge".
Seidl new CEO Alfa Romeo: Audi optics?
According to what reported by Fritz-Dieter Rencken on RacingNews365.com, Seidl's move would have been studied for the future of Sauber. In 2026, as is known, Audi he will enter Formula 1 by taking over the Hinwil team, and with the move from Vasseur, recently confirmed as the new Team Principal of Scuderia Ferrari, it would have been the house with the four rings to contact the German manager to offer him a move. Audi CEO Markus Duesmann actually collaborated with Seidl during Sauber's time racing under the BMW banner.
The confirmation came a couple of minutes after McLaren's announcement, with Seidl announced as new CEO by the Hinwil team. The role of team principal will not be unified as in the Vasseur period, with the Swiss team calmly choosing the new Team Principal.
