Ferrari Team Principal Binotto Leaving after Troubled Season

Formula One F1 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - November 19, 2022 Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - November 19, 2022 Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. (Reuters)
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Ferrari Team Principal Binotto Leaving after Troubled Season

Formula One F1 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - November 19, 2022 Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. (Reuters)
Formula One F1 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - November 19, 2022 Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. (Reuters)

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto is leaving the team at the end of next month after four years in which they often struggled to keep up with Formula One's leaders.

Binotto has been with Ferrari for 28 years and took over the team principal role in 2019.

The team was winless in 2020 and 2021, but started 2022 promisingly as Charles Leclerc won two of the opening three races, only for his title challenge to fizzle out as Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the championship with ease.

Ferrari came under criticism for blunders in its pit and tire strategies during Binotto's time in charge. A botched pit stop at the Dutch Grand Prix in September saw only three tires initially fitted to Carlos Sainz Jr.'s car and was seen as a symbol of Ferrari's difficulties.

“With the regret that this entails, I have decided to conclude my collaboration with Ferrari,” Binotto said in a statement, adding he felt “serenity” at having done his best.

Ferrari did not immediately name a successor but said its choice “is expected to be finalized in the new year.”



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.