Binotto replaces Arrivabene at Ferrari
FORMULA 1
Maurizio Arrivabene has been replaced as team principal at Ferrari by the team’s technical chief Mattia Binotto.
There had long been rumours that Binotto and Arrivabene had disagreements about the direction and approach of the team as it continues to bid to end its decade-long F1 title drought. Before the Christmas break, Arrivabene hit out at what he called “fake news” over reports that Binotto was so frustrated with the situation that he could leave the team. Now Ferrari’s senior bosses have decided that its hopes of stopping Mercedes’ dominance are better served with Binotto in charge.
“After four years of untiring commitment and dedication, Maurizio Arrivabene is leaving the team,” read Ferrari’s statement. “The decision was taken together with the company’s top management after lengthy discussions related to Maurizio’s long-term personal interests as well as those of the team itself.”
Ferrari stalwart Binotto has been technical boss since 2016, when he stepped up to the role following the team’s split with James Allison. Binotto first joined Ferrari in 1995, originally as a test-engine engineer, and then performed a similar role for the race team from 1997-2003. After a spell as chief engineer he became head of engine and KERS in
’09, before stepping up to chief operating officer of the power unit at the end of
’14 and then taking overall charge of Ferrari’s technical effort.
Ferrari’s statement added that “all technical areas will continue to report directly” to Binotto, and it is unclear who will replace him as head of the technical department. There are suggestions that the team may hand more responsibility to aero chief Enrico Cardile and its head of engine department Corrado Iotti.
FERRARI’S DOOR REVOLVES AGAIN
In the end, Ferrari’s most impressive recent season statistically counted for little for Arrivabene. As former chief Ross Brawn put it, Ferrari faces a “national question” in Italy whenever it does not win the title – something that last happened in 2008, when it claimed the constructors’ crown.
Arrivabene is the man being held responsible, the latest chief who failed to produce. It means Ferrari has just one championship success to show for the 11 seasons and three different team bosses since Jean Todt officially stepped down.
“HE OVERSAW AN INTERNAL OVERHAUL THAT PROVED HIS DOWNFALL”
The move to replace Arrivabene has come after a season when management errors were viewed as one of the key factors in it failing to secure the world championship. Although the Ferrari was the quickest car for stages of the season, the team failed to capitalise on its opportunities as Mercedes again came out on top. The failure to deal with the issue of team orders in a clear manner triggered unnecessary flashpoints between Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel at the German and Italian Grands Prix.
There were also strategic blunders, one of which came in Japan, when the team opted for the wrong tyres in qualifying. This prompted a remarkable outburst from Arrivabene about the approach his staff were taking. Arrivabene later switched his attention to blaming lack of progress with car development.
THE SOLUTION THAT BECAME A PROBLEM
Arrivabene had joined Ferrari after Marco Mattiacci, the figurehead of Ferrari’s 2014 overhaul, did not last a year. Mattiacci had not been a complete flop – he called Fernando Alonso’s bluff and cut him loose when he did not offer the necessary commitment to Ferrari, and struck a deal to sign Sebastian Vettel that left Red Bull shellshocked. He also threw his support behind Allison and was politically active, triggering the push for engine-freeze relaxation that prompted a major battle over power unit regulations, and chasing a wider overhaul of F1.
But this also created a rift with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. The suggestion was that Ferrari’s political motives, not its bad results, prompted his departure, and Arrivabene was the intended solution.
A long-time Ferrari ally as part of his role with key sponsor Philip Morris, and well-known to Ecclestone for that very reason, Arrivabene was viewed as a no-nonsense operator who was well-versed in the mechanisms of F1 as someone who had sat on the F1 Commission for a long time. Unfortunately for him, he oversaw an internal overhaul that ultimately proved his downfall. It was under him (though decided by then-ferrari president Sergio Marchionne) that Binotto was elevated to technical chief, sparking Ferrari’s turnaround after a disappointing slump in 2016 and thrusting it into nearly-butnot-quite title contention in ’17 and ’18.
As the Arrivabene solution descended into a fresh problem, Marchionne was said to be readying the axe before his death last summer. Arrivabene spent the rest of 2018 looking and sounding like a man on borrowed time as Ferrari made further mistakes and he hit out more in the media. Now Binotto is set to take the hot seat himself as the latest apparent answer to Italy’s ‘national question’.