Fernando Alonso has said the F1 world is \u201cdifferent\u201d now that more team leaders hail from technical, rather than business, backgrounds.<\/p>\n
In recent years, more teams have plumped for leadership hailing from technical backgrounds, an evolution from the past when it was businessmen and more financially-focused figures in charge.<\/p>\n
Fernando Alonso: Data-driven F1 has hastened change<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust.<\/p>\n In years gone by, the established pattern for most F1 teams was that the main figurehead of leadership oversaw the team\u2019s performance push while also being responsible for the business side of the organisation.<\/p>\n These included the likes of the late Eddie Jordan of his eponymous team, Ron Dennis at McLaren, Flavio Briatore at Benetton\/Renault and Christian Horner at Red Bull.<\/p>\n But, in recent years, more and more teams have turned to technical leaders when it comes to succession decisions, perhaps forming a two-pronged leadership structure with a CEO or business-orientated partner.<\/p>\n For instance, at McLaren, Andrea Stella is an engineer turned team boss, working closely alongside CEO Zak Brown. At Red Bull, Laurent Mekies is an engineer turned team boss and CEO, working alongside Red Bull GmbH CEO Oliver Mintzlaff, while Mekies\u2019 former role at Racing Bulls has been filled by Alan Permane as team boss, partnering Peter Bayer as CEO.<\/p>\n Other examples are Ayao Komatsu succeeding Guenther Steiner at Haas, Steve Nielsen at Alpine, Jonathan Wheatley and Mattia Binotto at Sauber, and the recent appointment of Adrian Newey as team principal at Aston Martin.<\/p>\n Newey is replacing Andy Cowell in that role, with Cowell moving aside after a year in charge as team boss in order to concentrate on the team\u2019s transition to Honda power in F1 2026.<\/p>\n After 25 years in Formula 1, one driver who has experienced the full breadth of different types of team leadership is Fernando Alonso, whose career started with Minardi in 2001, when Australian businessman Paul Stoddart owned and ran the backmarker team.<\/p>\n After years with Briatore at Renault, driving for Ron Dennis at McLaren, and Stefano Domenicali at Ferrari, Alonso is now set to work with Newey after previously serving under Mike Krack and Andy Cowell during his Aston Martin<\/a> tenure.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is different, no doubt,\u201d Alonso told media including PlanetF1.com when asked about the impact of seeing teams moving towards technical figureheads for leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the sport is different and the world is different.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything is more about performance now, trying to make perfection every weekend. The car is run by thousands of simulations and perfect setups, and these kinds of things.<\/p>\n \u201cSo there is less intuition into the things we do on the weekend. Everything is driven by data and things like that.<\/p>\n \u201cThe teams as well, I think in the past, you had to deal with strong personalities, and each of them was different, with the likes of Luca di Montezemolo or Flavio [Briatore] or Eddie Jordan in the past, or Ron Dennis.\u201d<\/p>\n More on the all-new regulations for F1 2026<\/p>\n F1 2026 tech analysed: The future of overtaking and biggest car advantage identified<\/a><\/p>\n