[blackwasp]

In October 2018, we had reported that Maurizio Arrivabene, team principal of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team, could move to the Juventus Football Club. Now, according to a media report, he is being replaced by Mattia Binotto, who is currently serving as the team’s technical chief.

The move to replace Arrivabene comes after the team’s failure to secure a Constructor’s championship despite having a fast car. It has also been reported that Binotto and Arrivabene had disagreements over the team’s approach to secure a Formula 1 title. Further, some strategy mistakes over the season were also made. This includes the unclear position on team orders at the German and Italian Grand Prix.

In the 2018 season, Ferrari secured 571 points and came second, while Mercedes came first with 655 points. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Driver’s championship while Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen came second and third respectively.

Binotto joined Ferrari in 1995 as an engine test engineer and moved to the Formula 1 team in 1997. In 2009, he was the head of engine and KERS. In 2016, he was appointed the Chief Technical Officer. It is uncertain who will replace him as head of the technical division.



Source: Motorsport.com

Link to the Team-BHP News

[GTO]

Ferrari are a bunch of idiots when it comes to personnel changes - their turnover is way too high. Personally, I think Maurizio did a good job. Sure, he isn't perfect, but who is? Not even Bernie Ecclestone or Michael Schumacher. It's also under Maurizio that Ferrari have a car that's got qualifying + race pace.

In the last 2 years, Vettel has made as many mistakes as the team. Is Ferrari going to sack him too? Ferrari should remember that their most successful years were the ones where they showed stability.

There is a reason why this disjointed team has won just a single championship since 2004. They spend as much time on internal fighting + politics as they do on racing.

[deetjohn]

I really hope Binotto gives Charles Leclerc a level playing field - no more second driver nonsense please!

[rikhav]

Originally Posted by GTO

Ferrari are a bunch of idiots when it comes to personnel changes - their turnover is way too high. Personally, I think Maurizio did a good job. Sure, he isn't perfect, but who is? Not even Bernie Ecclestone or Michael Schumacher. It's also under Maurizio that Ferrari have a car that's got qualifying + race pace.

In the last 2 years, Vettel has made as many mistakes as the team. Is Ferrari going to sack him too? Ferrari should remember that their most successful years were the ones where they showed stability.

There is a reason why this disjointed team has won just a single championship since 2004. They spend as much time on internal fighting + politics as they do on racing.

If it was not for vettels mistakes and issue with kimi's cars Ferrari would have won the constructors if not drivers championship

So how does it help changing the team principle

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

I really hope Binotto gives Charles Leclerc a level playing field - no more second driver nonsense please!

Leclerc is seen as the future of Ferrari, I am sure they will give him a free run. His responsibility is to ensure he remains pressure free and deliver.

Its a huge ask in a team like Ferrari, but I feel the youngster will deliver and in the medium to long-term he will become World Champion.

Cheers

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by GTO

Ferrari are a bunch of idiots when it comes to personnel changes - their turnover is way too high. Personally, I think Maurizio did a good job. Sure, he isn't perfect, but who is? Not even Bernie Ecclestone or Michael Schumacher. It's also under Maurizio that Ferrari have a car that's got qualifying + race pace.

In the last 2 years, Vettel has made as many mistakes as the team. Is Ferrari going to sack him too? Ferrari should remember that their most successful years were the ones where they showed stability.

There is a reason why this disjointed team has won just a single championship since 2004. They spend as much time on internal fighting + politics as they do on racing.

Yes agree, I dont see the logic in handing over a commercial position to a technical head.

On Vettel, I differ, have to get Alonso back.

[narayans80]

Every season with failed championship campaigns have ended in bloodletting. Nothing new now. I thought some heads might have rolled out in strategy for the 2018 debacle, no?

Originally Posted by Hatari

have to get Alonso back.

They've had their differences. I doubt Alonso's name crossed their minds when finding a replacement for Kimi.

Besides, the other driver alongside Alonso was way behind when compared to even Kimi-Vettel days. So they have to writeoff a Constructors' in order to win a Drivers' championship crown.

[ashwin.terminat]

Will Buxton suggests Arrivabene's ouster was coming for some time now.

Source: Writing was on the wall for uncompromising Arrivabene

I agree with the points where some tough decisions were not taken when they should have been. There should have been team orders at Monza though Kimi was on Pole. Strategy blunders were aplenty this year too.

I often wonder, is Ferrari "too Italian" a team? The last successful team principal was Stefano Domenicalii who barely managed to win the WDC in 2008. And they've had only Italian team principals after that. Before Stefano, it was the hay days of Ross Brawn and Jean Todt's regime where they enjoyed their greatest success. I just wonder if teams are causing more harm than good by having too many Italians on the team. Same goes for Ducati in MotoGP as well.

EDIT: Bernie said something similar last year too:Bernie Ecclestone: Ferrari 'too Italian' to win championships nowadays

[ron_9191]

Many people disagreed with Ferrari when they got Maurizio Arrivabene to join the team. People said he knew nothing about the sport, and this includes me too. However, in 2018 he delivered a team that during the first half of the season was definitely on the right track to deliver the elusive championships finally. And in some of the interviews and the rare public appearances he had, he sounded like a passionate and intelligent guy capable enough of running a team like the Scuderia Ferrari.

Mattia Binotto delivered the engine that they wanted and Maurizio Arrivabene lead the team and both Kimi and Seastian were consistent through out the first half of the 2018 season. It all looked like finally Ferrari is going to give the Mercs a run for their money. But then came the second half.... oh boy! The Italian way of serving in a silver platter is the best way to put it.

So was it purely Maurizio's fault? I really don't think so. I think he was 100 times better than Stefano Domenicali and I think Ferrari should have given him one final year to prove them.

On the other side, when a team fails these kind of changes follow. People will be moved, thrown out, brought in and what not. Only time will tell.

[motorworks]

To be honest, when Maurizio came on the scene, many were not impressed. He does not have much of a racing background, I think he had a background in marketing or sales. And in fact his appointment was largely seen as a standby. But he impressed with his leadership skills and gained the trust and respect of his team as well as the paddock.

But where he failed was to rein in the race strategies. In the last 2-3 years, Ferrari have always been the ones to make many number of strategic errors amongst the top 3. They often opted for late pit stops, which benefitted no one. This is one area which Maurizio did not sort out.

With regard to the car, yes, Ferrari has been in the mix for championships in 2018, but something like this is largely a huge team effort, and in a sport like formula 1 its down to engineering and not really about a team principal. The team principal is there to make sure the team works in cohesion and delivers the best car for the drivers. He cannot solve for engine or aero issues. And a guy like Maurizio cannot be expected to as well, since he does not come from that background, not even a racing series background.

So have Ferrari done the right thing? I think so. Ferrari are sending out clear signals that winning is important and finishing second is not their aim. So they move out Maurizio and that is a gentle warning to Seb as well. And by promoting Leclerc, they have also taken a big risk which they have never taken earlier. If Seb gets beaten by Leclerc convincingly then my guess is Seb will be asked to leave by 2020 and in all probability he will retire.

On the other hand, Seb can still turn it around. Remember, he is still one of the best drivers out there. Ricciardo and Max have still a long way to go. And for Ferrari he is still their best bet. Max is anyway locked in RBR, Lewis is with Merc, Alonso has been there, done that, so who else? And Seb does hold the team together, is not someone who tends to blame the car or the team. Hopefully it all comes together for Seb in 2019.

Lastly for all the folks who say that Seb lost the championship purely due to his mistakes, while I agree to some extent, the obvious mistakes in Germany and may be even an early move in Italy, I think Merc has the far superior car which was more consistent. If you go back and check some races in the 2nd half of 2018, Merc was ahead in qualifying and also were comfortably ahead in the race too. Either Merc made some upgrades work or Ferrari made some wrong choices on upgrades.

[Red Liner]

I will not be surprised at all if max makes a move to Ferrari sooner rather than later. Ferrari is the eptiome of racing and someone as aggressive as Max is probably who Ferrari will go after, once he proves his mettle in 2019. Seb might have to get out of the way for that, and if leclerc proves his racing then it will probably be all gloves off next season at the red camp.

I might finally return to watch F1 after the Schumacher era just because of Max.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by motorworks

He does not have much of a racing background, I think he had a background in marketing or sales.

Stefano Domenicali didn't have a racing background either. Yet he was the team principal for 7 years till the V6 hybrid debacle happened in 2014. Jean Todt preceded Stefano.

It is the technical director who oversees car development and operations. I guess even Strategy reports to the technical director. This was what (Mattia) Binotto was doing, and (James) Allison before him.

So what's changed now? One possible explanation I could think is that it was Sergio Machionne who brought in Arrivabene. Now that Sergio's no more, somebody 'upstairs' in Fiat management must have taken this decision.

Seb isn't out, likely due to contractual reasons. Even though the making and breaking of 2018 season was largely due to him, and he might've even won without team order if not for unforced errors. True, his position for 2020 might be in danger depending on Leclerc performs, but I highly doubt he is going to retire this early.

[SilentEngine]

Not entirely surprising, after failing to win the championship in a year where Ferrari had their strongest car in years.

Originally Posted by narayans80

So what's changed now? One possible explanation I could think is that it was Sergio Machionne who brought in Arrivabene. Now that Sergio's no more, somebody 'upstairs' in Fiat management must have taken this decision.

According to Andrew Benson, Marchionne wanted to replace Arrivabene, and current plan is just an implementation of the plan.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/46784200

The way I see it, Arrivabene wanted status-quo with Seb-Kimi as the driver pair for 2019, which is not what the higher management wanted.

Next year will define how Vettel's career shapes up. If Leclerc performs at same level as him, Vettel's position will be under threat. There will be a bunch of options for Ferrari to chose from in a couple of years.

[HKap]

Ferrari have given Vettel a good car for 2 years in a row. Both seasons Ferrari dominated the first half of the season. We don't know what happened in 2017 but 2018 we know that they had to revert to the setup they had before the summer break and they were back up on the podium. I think the problem lies as much with the driver as with the team. I'm not sure why it took them a good part of the second half of the season to figure that the upgrades had actually slowed them down. Also, Vettel has never been very good under pressure. This has been the case ever since his Red Bull days. If he's leading the race with not much pressure then he will drive it home without any issues but if he will crack under pressure unlike Lewis. Vettel has made too many mistakes this year to be world champion.

Fernando on the other hand is probably one of the best racers to have ever driven a F1 car. He made some poor career choices and never really won enough titles to match his ability. However, from whatever I've read Alonso was never a leader and you could never have built a team around him.

Very few drivers have the "complete package". For the last 22 years that I've watched and followed F1, I've only seen Michael, Mika and Lewis having those qualities.


I'm not sure if the horrible strategy calls that were taken in 2018 were the fault of the team boss or he just happens to be the fall guy. Even in this area its tough to find a combination like Jean Todt and Ross Brawn. The championships won by Michael were due to a team effort led by Michael and Brawn. Ferrari have been unable to repeat that magic and whether that was because of the team culture or something else, we will never know.

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Leclerc is seen as the future of Ferrari, I am sure they will give him a free run. His responsibility is to ensure he remains pressure free and deliver.

Its a huge ask in a team like Ferrari, but I feel the youngster will deliver and in the medium to long-term he will become World Champion.

Yes, let's hope so!

I think Scuderia Ferrari will do well to prioritize the 2019 constructors championship over the drivers title. The latter is definitely more glamorous - most don't even recall Ferrari being the champions in 2008, they only think of Lewis and how Massa lost that one badly.

But I think with proper team work, Ferrari can beat Mercedes for the constructors. It's been so long without a title now, and one always start with the constructors. Even Michael' all conquering team started their mighty campaign like that by winning the constructors in 1999 - though he had to sit out with a broken leg for quite a few races.

I feel, Ferrari has given enough and more chance to Vettel now and he has duly blown it more than once - failing to capitalise the fight for title when the red car was on top. Mistakes and red mist - that's not how one becomes a champion!

And that's why giving a level playing field for Charles is going to be key next season. Ferrari cannot afford to pull him down and award points to Mercedes to get Vettel ahead in 2019.

This will also give Charles time to grow into the role - a title fight is all consuming! But I do think the kid is special. It's not always you get someone so fast, and not volatile. He really reminds me of Michael.

Let's hope for close fights all around in 2019! May the best man and the machine win - but not necessarily together!