NO SUCCESSION PLAN
When at the end of 2018 Binotto won the internal battle in Maranello against the polarising figure of Maurizio Arrivabene, he was aware he was facing the biggest challenge of his professional life. Few people knew the reality of Ferrari like Binotto, who entered it immediately after graduating in engineering, in 1995, as his first place of work. Binotto’s has been a remarkable climb: year after year he has risen in rank to the highest position in the Gestione Sportiva, the headquarters of Ferrari’s Formula 1 programme.
The final step was possible thanks to excellent work done in the role of technical director, as he oversaw a return to competitiveness in 2017-2018, but the transition to the role of team principal meant having to face a very different job from the previous one. Moving from technical problems to managerial ones requires other qualities and, even if in the past there have been technicians able to play the role of team principal very well (Ross Brawn, one of Ferrari’s most successful technical directors of the past few decades, is the best example), running an entire organisation rather than single portion of it throws up unexpected challenges.
The first anomaly with the Scuderia Ferrari managed by Binotto was the decision not to name a successor to him. For four seasons in Maranello, the role of technical director and team principal merged in the same person: Binotto. Mattia was very skilled in managing difficult situations, such as the thorny matter of the 2019 power unit which led to a secret agreement with the FIA. But even this apparent success came at a price: catastrophic results in 2020 with a car whose aerodynamics had been conceived in the expectation of a more powerful engine. The circumstances of the pandemic gave little headroom to turn this around but there was still a very slight improvement in 2021.
Binotto managed to survive this very difficult period by promising the great redemption in 2022, an appointment for which Ferrari would not be found unprepared. The message sent by Binotto was clear: the Scuderia technical staff pivoted to a complete focus on the 2022 car as early as possible. As Ferrari laboured through two challenging seasons its leadership was at pains to argue that this state of affairs was only temporary, and normal competitive service would be resumed in the new ground-effect era. This allowed Binotto and his work group to publicly write off 2021, but it greatly increased the expectations for 2022.