Today’s F1 team principals "are a disparate lot," according to Brad Spurgeon of the N.Y. TIMES. Among them are a female lawyer, a liquor company magnate, a marketing exec, former racers, financial investors and even one or two engineers. But as the staffs of teams have grown, from less than a dozen people to nearly a 1,000, the role "has evolved from the initial hands-on approach to racing to that of chief executive of a midsize company, managing the team, chasing sponsorship, and hiring and firing directors." The principal nowadays "has almost nothing to do with actual race strategy."
The biggest change, according to Manor Team Principal John Booth is that, "unlike in the past, none of the team principals today personally own the teams outright." Booth: "I was in a meeting with team principals and we were trying to make a decision on engines and I said, 'The first thing we need to do before we make a decision is consult with the people who pay the bills, because there is no one sitting around this table that pays the bills.'"
Today, the teams are owned by "car manufacturers, private investment companies, or shareholders." This trend "has led to a change in the job of managing the team, with a corresponding shift in image from the macho male racer to the chief executive." Claire Williams, the daughter of Williams Team Founder Frank Williams, is deputy team principal to her father. Claire Williams: "A team principal of the traditional sense has moved. You had this one kind of icon in the team, who was the be-all and end-all, and that has changed following the change in the size of our businesses in Formula One, as all teams have grown exponentially." Williams said that "the biggest challenge for her at the moment was seeking out sponsorship money, especially in these difficult financial times" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/18).
