Binotto to run Ferrari F1 team from Maranello at Turkish GP

Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Mattia Binotto will not be present at this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix and will instead run the team from its Maranello headquarters.

Binotto revealed at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola that he was considering skipping some of the remaining races of the 2020 F1 season in order to help preparations for 2021 and evaluate whether he could run the team remotely if required.

Ahead of F1’s first visit to Istanbul Park in nine years, Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies confirmed that Binotto would be staying at the team’s base in Maranello for the weekend.

"Mattia has always approached his role in an innovative way, trying to think outside the box," Mekies said.

"He has come up with a method of working that gives the flexibility to manage the priorities in the most efficient way possible: he had already adopted this approach when he was technical director and has applied it even more so now as team principal.

"At first it might seem strange not to see him physically in the briefings or on the pit wall, but he will make use of all the current communication technologies so that his voice and input will be loud and clear to everyone, both inside and outside the team.”

F1 teams are looking at ways to rotate their staff with fears that a record-breaking 23-race calendar in 2021 could result in burnout for team personnel that have already been stretched by the demands of a condensed 17-round 2020 campaign as a result of the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff skipped last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix and has admitted that this season’s demanding schedule has taken its toll on everyone at the team.

Last week, Binotto said that Ferrari has a duty to look after its staff and find a balance of how to best utilise personnel amid an increased calendar for 2021.

"Considering myself, you need to balance your tasks at the race track and at the factory," Binotto said.

"The factory is important, where we are developing the car and preparing the cars.

"For myself, I think I will not be at all the races. Even in 2020 I am considering skipping some of the races in the last part of the season, starting from Turkey.

"But that is more of an eventuality for next year, because when you are responsible for an entire team, certainly the race event is important, but also the entire management of the team is important.

"[When] increasing the number of races, there is a judgement that needs to be done to take care where you can on some engineers and technicians to eventually find a balance."