Martin Brundle questioned Ferrari's appointment of Frederic Vasseur and suggested the Italians would have been better off persuading Mattia Binotto to stay.
Binotto quit as team principal at the end of last month after four years in the job. His decision came off the back of a season in which Ferrari flattered to deceive – they had a quick enough car, but operational mistakes proved to be their downfall.
Feeling he no longer had the trust of executive chairman John Elkann, Binotto handed in his resignation. The experienced Vasseur, signed from the Sauber team currently branded as Alfa Romeo, will take over the reigns in the New Year.
Given it often takes time for a new leader to fully settle in, some have questioned the wisdom of bringing in an outsider rather than promoting from within. Brundle referenced that point as he explained his misgivings about the big change made at Maranello.
"I'm not quite sure why Ferrari would choose now to have a month without a boss," said the Sky Sports pundit. "I do think they should have given Binotto more time. If I was Mercedes or Red Bull right now, I'd be smiling because continuity is everything.
"As Formula 1 seasons get longer and more intense, you have to be careful of these sea changes of personnel. Mercedes have got real continuity, as have Red Bull in key personnel. Fred Vasseur has got to go in and find his way, get established, understand, and it’s a tall order.
"It doesn't matter who you are, it's going to take time unless you are a part of the fabric like [former boss Stefano] Domenicali was and like Binotto has been. It is such a fundamental change and it will destabilise them in the short term, it has to. Everybody will be slightly off balance thinking, where do they stand, and what's next? They'll be in limbo."
Ferrari is, of course, not the only marque to have changed its team principal this winter. McLaren have a new boss after Andreas Seidl left to become chief executive at Sauber – Andrea Stella has stepped up to the top job in his place in what Zak Brown hopes will be a seamless transition.
Explaining part of the reason why he chose an internal hire, Brown made a similar point about continuity. He told reporters: "We've done a lot of promotion from within – we've got a really solid racing team... This feels like we won't miss a beat, versus introducing someone from the outside because that takes quite a lot of time to get up to speed."
