Eric Boullier might have the title of ‘racing director’, but the Frenchman insists his role is identical to that of team principal.
The former Lotus boss has replaced Martin Whitmarsh following a management shake-up which saw Ron Dennis return as chairman.
Boullier, when asked, explained that he is essentially team principal, but under a new more modern job title.
“It is one hundred percent the same job as with Lotus – it’s just another job title,” he told the official F1 website.
“We have discussed that with Ron [Dennis]: the title ‘team principal’ is heritage – something of the past. It was the team founder or the team owner. Today F1 teams are organizations. They have grown massively in the past 30 years.”
The structure is similar to Mercedes following the departure of Ross Brawn. The Anglo-German team is now run by Paddy Lowe (racing) and Toto Wolff (commercial).
McLaren has split its business in a similar way, with Jonathan Neale overseeing the commercial side.
“With 19 races and testing I will be away from Woking quite a lot and you cannot run a business if you are away for so long – especially not an F1 team where you have to be on top of every little detail every day if you want to win,” added Boullier.
“The idea is more to split tasks between Jonathan Neale and myself. IT, legal and finance is under Jonathan’s scope, racing and engineering under mine.
“So at the track I am acting one hundred percent as the team principal. Back at Woking I oversee one part of the organization.”
