"That would have been my choice" - Michael Schumacher's boss should have been Ferrari team principal and not Fred Vasseur, feels ex-F1 driver

Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes that Ferrari made a mistake in their selection of Mattia Binotto's replacement.

The Prancing Horse parted ways with Binotto at the end of the 2022 season and hired Frederic Vassuer as the new team principal. The Frenchman has extensive experience in motorsports, having previously worked in a similar role at Alfa Romeo.

Before Vassuer's appointment, the likes of ex-Ferrari employees Ross Brawn and Jean Todt were linked with the hot seat. However, both declined opportunities to move back to the Maranello outfit, with the former retiring and the latter not being involved in the sport since his role as FIA president ended in December 2021.

Despite his F1 hiatus, Montoya believes that Todt would have been the perfect replacement for Binotto. The 76-year-old Frenchman has previously led Ferrari in the 1990s and 2000s and helped the team dominate the sport. He was also instrumental in tempting Michael Schumacher to join the team from Benetton.

Montoya told Motorsport:

"I thought they were going to put Jean Todt in this [team principal] position. To be honest, that would have been my choice. I don’t know if he wanted the job but he was the guy who did the job before and I think everyone respects him enough that nobody pi***s him off."

The Colombian added:

"He doesn't need the job so when you don't need the job and you don't care [about losing it], I think you have more balls to make the right decisions. But I hope [Ferrari] will do a good job."

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Fred Vasseur reveals 'one-to-one discussion' with his Ferrari predecessor Mattia Binotto

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has stated that he had a one-on-one discussion with his predecessor Mattia Binotto as part of the handover process. The Frenchman was very complimentary of Binotto and thanked him for a smooth handover process. He said (via The Race):

"The process was crystal clear, even if we had some rumors in the press before Abu Dhabi or during Abu Dhabi, we didn’t discuss before. We had the first discussion the week after Abu Dhabi and it was very, very quick as a process. And then I had a call with Mattia, and I even met Mattia during the handover and we had a one-to-one discussion."

Vasseur added:

"It was thanks to Mattia for this because I appreciated the move from Mattia to stay, to wait for me, to discuss together, [it] was really appreciated from my side."

It now remains to be seen whether the Frenchman can achieve what Binotto struggled to in his few years at the helm of the Prancing Horse.