F1 team principals 2026: who runs every team on the grid

Eleven teams, eleven bosses, and a job that ranges from co-owner to hired manager depending on where you look. The team principal is the person the television cameras cut to when something goes wrong, the one who answers for the strategy and signs the drivers, and in 2026 the role has changed hands at several teams in a short space of time. Here is who runs what, and how they got there.

Toto Wolff, Mercedes

The longest-serving and most powerful team principal on the grid. Wolff has run Mercedes since 2013, owns a third of the team, and oversaw eight consecutive constructors’ championships before the ground-effect era. In 2026 he is managing a title fight between his own two drivers, and his descriptions of Kimi Antonelli, from “walking on water” to an “AI agent” that keeps improving, have become part of the season’s vocabulary. He admitted the Monza intra-team fight “could have ended in disaster”.

Fred Vasseur, Ferrari

The Frenchman took over Ferrari in 2023 after running Sauber, bringing a calmer style than Maranello was used to. 2026 has tested it: an engine behind Mercedes, two drivers clashing at Monza and Lewis Hamilton saying publicly there are “no rules”. Vasseur has hinted at a change to how the team manages its drivers, and our analysis of Ferrari’s Monza mess argued the decision cannot wait.

Andrea Stella, McLaren

Stella, an engineer who worked with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso at Ferrari, has been McLaren’s team principal since 2023 under CEO Zak Brown, and led the team to Lando Norris’s 2025 title. This season has been harder, with the H-wing experiment abandoned and a review opened into how Norris and Oscar Piastri race each other.

Laurent Mekies, Red Bull

Mekies was promoted from Racing Bulls to replace Christian Horner, the only team principal Red Bull had known. He has rebuilt the team’s structure quietly, hired Bradley McCullough from Aston Martin as head of racing after Gianpiero Lambiase’s departure, and kept Max Verstappen, who credits the improved “chemistry” under Mekies as a reason for staying.

Alan Permane, Racing Bulls

The former Renault and Alpine sporting director took charge at Faenza when Mekies moved up. Racing Bulls is fifth in the constructors’ championship despite a season of driver swaps that Permane has called “not ideal”.

Flavio Briatore, Alpine

Briatore’s title is executive adviser and his authority is total. The man who ran Benetton and Renault to four championships returned to the Enstone team in 2024 and has become its public face, most memorably in September when he accused an FIA appeal judge of bias after Pierre Gasly lost his Monaco podium. Steve Nielsen handles day-to-day operations as managing director. Alpine is sixth and rising.

Ayao Komatsu, Haas

The Japanese engineer, at Haas since its first season, was promoted to team principal in 2024 and has made the sport’s smallest team more competitive on a fraction of rivals’ budgets. His honesty about the Ferrari engine upgrade being “no game-changer” was characteristic.

Jonathan Wheatley, Audi

Red Bull’s former sporting director runs the Audi works team in its debut season, alongside Mattia Binotto, the former Ferrari boss who heads the wider Audi project. The team’s refusal to give up a single point at Monza, appealing the Tsunoda decision, reflects a management that expects to fight for everything.

James Vowles, Williams

Vowles left Mercedes, where he was strategy director, to run Williams in 2023 and has led a patient rebuild that persuaded Carlos Sainz to sign and then to extend. The results are not there yet. The infrastructure is.

Andy Cowell, Aston Martin

The engineer who built Mercedes’ hybrid-era engines is Aston Martin’s chief executive and team principal, with Adrian Newey as managing technical partner and Lawrence Stroll as executive chairman. The team is building for 2027, and Fernando Alonso’s decision on his future is its biggest open question.

Graeme Lowdon, Cadillac

The former Marussia boss runs Cadillac’s first season, which has already included a fine, a testing crash and a leadership change above him. Lowdon’s experience of running a new team on a tight budget is precisely why he was hired.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Red Bull’s team principal?

Laurent Mekies, who replaced Christian Horner.

Who runs Alpine?

Flavio Briatore as executive adviser, with Steve Nielsen as managing director.

Who is the longest-serving team principal?

Toto Wolff, at Mercedes since 2013 and a co-owner.

What does a team principal do?

Runs the racing operation: strategy, driver management, relations with the FIA and F1, and usually the final say on technical and commercial decisions.