Icon: enlarge
Stefano Domenicali in 2014 as Ferrari team principal
Photo:
Srdjan Suki / dpa
The most important decision for the future should have been made in Formula 1.
As international specialist media unanimously report, the former Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali is to replace the previous CEO Chase Carey at the turn of the year.
This was communicated to the ten racing teams on Tuesday; the "Racefans" portal first reported about Domenicali's commitment.
An official confirmation from the Formula 1 rights holder Liberty Media was initially pending.
The American Carey took over the chairmanship of Formula 1 at the beginning of 2017 from long-time boss Bernie Ecclestone.
Carey's departure has been certain for a long time, he should remain in the sport in an advisory role.
Before that there had been much speculation about a successor, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was traded among other things.
Now it is supposed to be Domenicali, and this decision comes as a surprise.
The 55-year-old Italian is currently the managing director of Volkswagen subsidiary Lamborghini, but has a long history with Ferrari.
In Michael Schumacher's successful era, Domenicali worked for Ferrari with a total of eleven world championship titles between 1999 and 2004, among other things as sports director, from November 2007 to April 2014 he was team manager at Scuderia.
Three Ferrari: Domenicali, Todt, Brawn
With Domenicali's appointment, Formula 1 would be led by three leading figures from the Schumacher / Ferrari era: the then team boss Jean Todt is the acting president of the Fia world motor sports association, the former star engineer Ross Brawn is the Formula 1 sports director.
Ferrari has been said to have had a close relationship with the Fia and the Formula 1 makers for many years.
In the past, the Italian racing team has benefited from special awards based on its status as the longest member of Formula 1 and the worldwide importance of the Ferrari brand for sport.
At the beginning of the year, Ferrari, without the knowledge of the other teams, reached an agreement with the Fia for alleged manipulation of the engine on a small sentence without making the misconduct public.
It is completely unclear whether Domenicali would approve of such deals in the future.
However, he worked for Ferrari for 20 years and is aware of the importance of Formula 1 for the company's economic development.
With a gap of six years to Formula 1, Domenicali is an advocate of cost efficiency.
His predecessor has already negotiated important steps on this issue.
A few weeks ago Carey managed to convince all teams to sign the new basic contract by 2025.
A budget limit for the teams has been defined there for the first time.
Icon: The mirror
krä / sid