Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has questioned Ferrari’s decision to appoint Mattia Binotto as both team principal and technical director.
Last month, the Scuderia confirmed the veteran of Maranello would be replacing Maurizio Arrivabene in 2019 while also continuing to head the development of this year’s car.
While many have welcomed the decision believing it could give the Ferrari the clearest direction forwards, Horner does wonder if Binotto will be able to complete both tasks to their optimum.
“It’s a big job for Mattia because you can’t do both roles,” the Briton stated to Autosport.
“You’re either the technical director or team principal and I think he’s probably got that difficult scenario where he’s running between offices at the moment.
“Both are enormous jobs in their own right so it’s going to be a process of evolution.”
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The Red Bull chief also believes those that expect Binotto’s promotion to reap immediate success for Ferrari are getting ahead of themselves.
“They’ve made their changes for whatever reason, they’ve decided upon the fifth team principal that I’ve sat opposite to in Ferrari in my time at Red Bull,” Horner said.
“And with every management change there’s a change in culture and approach, and that takes time.”
The second big change at the Italian team is Charles Leclerc’s promotion alongside Sebastian Vettel, creating a scenario Horner knows very well having partnered the German up against Daniel Ricciardo in 2014.
“Charles is a really exciting talent, for the sport it’s great to see,” he commented. “Sebastian’s now 31, you’ve got these youngsters coming through starting to put pressure on the established guys, from a sporting point of view, it’s fascinating.
“He [Vettel] had Kimi pretty easily covered. He might have to work a bit harder with Charles but he may now find a new level.
“So it might, in turn, be good for him to be pushed even harder.”