The making of a 2026 Formula 1 team principal

Leadership is always tested. In 2026, amid new rules that mandate smaller cars and tyres, new overtaking and aerodynamic systems and new power units, team principals aim to align hundreds of staff members to achieve a shared objective.

 

Some team principals started in design offices, some in race operations, some in boardrooms, and some by building teams from scratch. Here’s what those routes to the roles reveal.

 

Cadillac is the newest team on the grid, and its team principal is Graeme Lowdon. The Briton holds a degree in mechanical engineering at Sheffield University, with a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Newcastle University.

 

Lowdon’s career began in the power infrastructure industry before he established numerous technology businesses. He transitioned into motorsport by brokering a sponsorship deal for an IndyCar team.

 

He co-founded a Formula Renault (junior racing) team called Eiger Racing in 1996 and, in 2010, became CEO of Virgin Racing, which later became Marussia F1 Team and then Manor Racing in 2015.

 

Cadillac hired Lowdon - who had been advising the team’s F1 entry for the previous two years - as team principal in December 2024. Lowdon is credited with assembling the team’s high-level staff and establishing its facility at Silverstone, UK, with another facility under construction in the United States.

 

As of early 2026, Austrian boss Toto Wolff is the longest-serving team principal in F1. Wolff enrolled in the Vienna University of Economics and Business at the age of 18, but soon dropped out while pursuing motor racing, starting with a foray into the SEAT Ibiza Cup.

 

In 1992, he drove in the Austrian Formula Ford Championship but found more success in coaching drivers. Eventually, he pursued financial investments through his companies Marchfifteen and Marchsixteen. In 2006, Wolff bought a 49% stake in HWA AG, which ran the German DTM programme for Mercedes-Benz, developed F3 engines, and its GT3 sportscar. HWA AG was listed on the stock exchange the following year.

 

Wolff made numerous other motorsport investments, but the most transformative move came in January 2013 when he acquired a 30% stake in Mercedes F1 Team and became its team principal. He has since guided the team to eight constructors’ championships, seven drivers’ championships and 131 race victories.

 

In 2025, Wolff sold half of his Mercedes F1 Team stake to American businessman George Kurtz. Wolff reportedly earned around $300m USD from the deal.

 

Adrian Newey studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Southampton, UK, graduating in 1980. He briefly worked for the Fittipaldi F1 team under the eminent F1 designer Harvey Postlethwaite before becoming a Formula 2 race engineer, and then moving to the United States.

 

Newey worked as race engineer and car designer for Bobby Rahal’s team in the United States CART championship. He soon moved to March, with his March 85C winning the 1985 Cart championship and 1985 Indianapolis 500. The Newey-designed March 86C repeated the feat in 1986.

 

At the end of 1986, Newey joined the Haas Lola F1 team, but it withdrew at the end of the season. After a brief stint as Mario Andretti’s race engineer, Newey was rehired by March - this time for its F1 project. The 1988 March F1 car put Newey on the F1 map, as did its successors.

 

He joined frontrunning team Williams in 1991, winning championships with the FW14 and FW15 cars. He would later design championship-winning cars for McLaren before becoming Red Bull’s technical director in 2006. From 2010-13, Red Bull dominated with Sebastian Vettel at the wheel, and the team returned to titles from 2021-23 with Max Verstappen driving. The 2023 RB19 is the most dominant car in history, with 22 out of 23 grand prix wins that season.

 

In 2025, Newey joined Aston Martin as a shareholder and managing technical partner. He took over as team principal later that year.

 

Frederic - better known as Fred - Vasseur studied automotive and engineering at the Higher School of Aeronautical Techniques and Automotive Construction (ESTACA) in France. He graduated in 1995 and, in 1996, he set up Formula 3 team ASM.

 

In 2004, he founded ART Grand Prix, which found success in junior series with the likes of Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, and Charles Leclerc.

 

Vasseur became Renault’s F1 team principal in 2016 before becoming Sauber’s managing director in 2017, as well as Alfa Romeo Sauber’s team principal.

 

At the end of the 2022 season, Vasseur became general manager and team principal of Ferrari.

 

Andrea Stella studied aerospace engineering at the Sapienza University of Rome and completed a PhD in Mechanical Engineering before joining Ferrari in 2000.

 

Starting as a performance engineer for its test team, he spent more than a decade in technical roles, working closely with Michael Schumacher and later Fernando Alonso.

 

 

Laurent Mekies studied mechanical engineering at ESTACA (Vasseur’s alma mater) before completing a master’s at Loughborough University, UK.

 

Mekies interned in French Formula 3 while still a student and, in 2000, worked as an engineer for engine manufacturer Asiatech in Formula 3. He sent his CV to Peugeot, who employed him soon after, before Peugeot-powered F1 team Arrows employed him to oversee engine performance from 2001-02.

 

In 2003, Mekies joined Minardi as a race engineer. In 2006, the team was rebranded to Toro Rosso, and Mekies became chief engineer - overseeing Sebastian Vettel’s famous 2008 Italian Grand Prix victory. He left the team at the end of 2012.

 

In 2014, Mekies left Toro Rosso and joined the FIA as safety director. He later became deputy race director.

 

In 2018, he returned to Formula 1 with Ferrari, becoming its sporting director. By 2021, Mekies switched to the role of racing director.

 

He rejoined the squad formerly known as Minardi and Toro Rosso in mid-2023, becoming Racing Bulls’s team principal. When Christian Horner left Red Bull in 2025, Mekies stepped up to become its team principal.

 

James Vowles studied computer science at the University of East Anglia, UK, and then completed a Master’s in motorsport engineering and management at Cranfield University in 2001. While there, he contributed to a project that won the Prodrive Award of Excellence, drawing multiple F1 job offers.

 

Of those offers, Vowles decided to kickstart his F1 career with BAR Honda in 2001, remaining with the team through its transitions to Honda, Brawn GP, and Mercedes, and working his way up to motorsport strategy director of Mercedes under Wolff’s leadership.

 

In 2023, Vowles joined Williams as team principal, leading the team to fifth in the constructors’ championship with 137 points - its best finish since 2017.

 

Japanese team principal Ayao Komatsu moved to the UK in 1995 to study at Loughborough University, where he earned a bachelor’s in automotive engineering followed by a PhD in vehicle dynamics and control. It was during this PhD that he met compatriot Takuma Sato, working with him in British Formula 3.

 

Komatsu joined BAR Honda’s test team as a vehicle dynamics engineer in 2003, and shifted to Renault-Lotus in 2006. In 2007, he became a performance engineer for the team. In 2011 he became a race engineer for the same team (then known as Lotus), working with Vitaly Petrov and then Romain Grosjean.

 

In 2015, Komatsu was promoted to chief race engineer at Lotus. He joined Haas in 2016 as trackside engineering director.

 

After Guenther Steiner departed, Komatsu became Haas’s team principal in January 2024.

Alan Permane did not attend university, instead beginning his motorsport career in 1989 as a test electronics engineer at Benetton. He progressed to junior race engineer in 1996, working with driver Jean Alesi, and Permane became a race engineer from 1997 to 2006 as the team evolved into Renault F1. He oversaw drivers including Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella.

 

Permane was promoted to chief race engineer in 2007 and then became chief operating officer of the team in 2011. In 2012 he became sporting director - a position he kept through the team’s Lotus, Renault, and Alpine eras, until 2023.

 

Permane joined Racing Bulls in 2024 as Racing Director and was promoted to team principal in 2025 following Mekies’s move to Red Bull.

 

Flavio Briatore was a restaurant manager, ski instructor, and insurance salesman before he moved into franchising with clothing company United Colors of Benetton in the United States. He initially oversaw commercial operations from 1989 with the Benetton Formula 1 team.

 

By 1991, he had taken full control of Benetton and gradually built a highly competitive outfit, recruiting the best engineers and assembling a championship-winning lineup of drivers. Briatore signed a young Michael Schumacher and guided him to two drivers’ championships and three constructors’ titles with Benetton.

 

He would briefly take the helm of Ligier in 1995 as the team became a Benetton B-team, before being replaced as Benetton boss in 1997.

 

In 2000, Renault announced the purchase of Benetton and Briatore returned as chief. Fernando Alonso won two world championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006 but the Renault project was marred by the 2008 ‘Crashgate’ scandal that led to Briatore’s departure from F1.

 

In May 2024, he returned to the very same team - now Alpine - as executive advisor and was effectively granted de facto team principal responsibilities in May 2025.