Ex-Maranello engineer Luigi Mazzola critical of Ferrari team management decisions

Ex-Maranello engineer Luigi Mazzola critical of Ferrari team management decisions. Luigi Mazzola critical of Ferrari team management decisions.

New direction: David Sanchez leaves Ferrari
Only one race of the 2023 season has passed but Scuderia Ferrari is already experiencing quite intense days. Adding to the disappointing performances of the two SF-23 cars at the Bahrain International Circuit and the umpteenth reliability problem that hit a red single-seater – with the bitter retirement of Charles Leclerc’s #16 car – there was in fact the news of the departure of David Sanchez, the head of aerodynamics who resigned right after the Sakhir race and who will most likely move to McLaren in 2024.

There has been a lot of discussion regarding this separation from a figure who had been a point of reference in the past management of Mattia Binotto. The feeling, after having also limited the responsibilities of former head of strategies Iñaki Rueda, is that the new team principal Frederic Vasseur is starting to change Ferrari based on the direction he wants the team to take in ihe future.

Internal solution
For the moment it is likely that an ‘internal solution’ will be chosen to replace David Sanchez. But this sort of revolving door policy, which has been taking hold at Ferrari for several years, finds disagreement with those who had been part of the Scuderia’s ‘old guard’ in the past. The engineer Luigi Mazzola, who worked for Ferrari from 1988 to 2009, contributing in those years to winning eight Constructors’ and six Drivers’ world titles, expressed his dissatisfaction through his Instagram profile against the choices made by the Ferrari top management. Indeed, in a video published today, Luigi Mazzola contested David Sanchez’s exit, defining it as a declaration of “surrender” from the Maranello management. Yet another piece in that philosophy of “we’ll win next year” that has been making Ferrari fans so angry in recent years.

The opinion of engineer Luigi Mazzola
“The resignation or dismissal – there is little difference – of David Sanchez represents another blow, another disappointment – said Luigi Mazzola – He was a top management person and his exit represents a bit an act of surrender. It seems to me like saying ‘this year we take what comes but we focus on next year’. But they must graft, not divide. Firing or resigning is a sign of surrender. After the announcements made during the winter, seeing this departure after the first Grand Prix is a contradiction. Talking about setup problems in Bahrain to defend the car is and then no longer having the key figure that chose the car design is perplexing. There is still no technical director. Not having coordination and a reference figure doesn’t help. In my day Ross Brown came in and got Rory Byrne, but he didn’t fire Aldo Costa. We must not get caught up in the emotion of the moment”, he concluded.