There are just a few days left and Mattia Binotto’s separation from Scuderia Ferrari F1 will be definitive. In this period of transition, the Italian manager still operating and handling “current affairs”, to use an expression typical of politics. He is still working for the team, therefore, he attended technical meetings ahead of 2023 and acted as a representative at the World Motorsport Council. But his duties will fade more and more until they disappear on December 31, the day on which he will have to say goodbye to the staff and offices for the last time.
A new phase therefore opens up for Ferrari in which two substitutes will have to come into play: a head of Sports Management and a technical director; two roles that for the last few years have been managed by Mattia Binotto himself. As for the Italian manager, he who will have to think about his future: because it is unthinkable to believe that a manager who has led the Ferrari Racing Division for 4 years and who has been in Maranello for 28 cannot find a job elsewhere. Whether it’s in Formula One or in any other area of motor sport.
One thing is certain: Mattia Binotto will not move to Mercedes. The technical and human transfer between Maranello and Brackley has often worked. Aldo Costa, James Allison, Lorenzo Sassi are some of the most illustrious names who have made moved from Maranello to England. They have shown skills by doing well in Ferrari but without winning major titles only to sign for Mercedes and help their new team achieve unprecedented success and a record of consecutive victories that will hardly be matched in the coming years.
“I don’t see Mattia at Mercedes. Mattia and I had our moments, it’s no secret over these many years. It wouldn’t be possible” – Toto Wolff explained to “Beyond the Grid” – “But I see him doing well in other teams. He is a man who knows Formula 1 very well and could perhaps find a good place on the grid in the future. There are many destinations that are attractive at the moment.” – the Mercedes boss said.
These comments highlight two very solid ideas: the first is that there is no place for him in Brackley; the second is that the relationship between the two has not been the best. The process of agreeing on the 2022 rules got Mattia Binotto and Toto Wolff often against each other, creating state of tension that escalated in this world championship in two key stages.
From the winter tests in Bahrain in which the Ferrari exponent threatened to appeal to the FIA for those anti-intrusion cones that challenged “the spirit of the regulation” up to the duel on technical directive 039 which saw Ferrari lose out on a political level, with Mercedes able to successfully introduce a rule change that helped them recover the gap to Ferrari.
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Perhaps it was precisely this difficulty of Mattia Binotto’s in winning political battles at key meetings that led to the senior management’s decision of replacing him. The Italian engineer never managed to gain advantages and impose his political power, as opposed to Mercedes and Red Bull, who thanks to the harsh approach of Toto Wolff and Christian Horner have always been able to shift the balance of power their way.
“Mattia and I have had our moments over the years and in 2022 it was clear he was under pressure. If you are the boss of a team like Ferrari, the best thing is to have a good contract for when you leave. His departure was inevitable, but he held out longer than I expected.”
The last statement is rather clear. On the one hand it could be read in terms of mockery and little respect for the work of a colleague, on the other it could have the value of praise. And this is probably the correct key to understanding it because Maranello is a hostile and exhausting environment. Toto Wolff, therefore, recognizes the difficult tasks his colleague (and enemy) faced, as he had to operate in a sort of den of snakes, handing in his resignation after attempts to impose himself. A tenacity that hasn’t paid off but that could serve in the future for other and more satisfying professional adventures.
“In Ferrari there is more pressure than in any other team, because you represent an entire country. Mattia’s replacement must be a great Italian managerial talent, who has power in other areas and at the same time is smart enough to lead such a big team. You have to check the sport, the regulations, the governing body, commercial rights and rivals. All these problems are found in the paddock. The fact that you are a good manager in the pit wall does not guarantee that you are equally good in these aspects“.
And this thought summarizes the clearest picture of what went wrong at Ferrari. Not due to the fault of Mattia Binotto, but due to a presidency with little knowledge of how Formula 1 works: it believed that a single man in charge could manage every single aspect. A poor management idea that means John Elkann is is responsible for the current situation that the head of the Ferrari Racing Division.
Ferrari’s justicialist operating model, made up of excessive and counterproductive discontinuity, has also been criticized by another great F1 manager: Christian Horner. “I think the next one will be the sixth team principal I’ve sat in front of since I’ve been at Red Bull. It was obviously difficult for him. They had a great car this year, they were certainly very competitive.”
A few terse words that are linked to those expressed by Toto Wolff: Mattia Binotto is not without fault. Communication has never been too clear, having defined objectives that were not consistently pursued and having made a gamble on the new rules and regulation only to then raise the white flag too soon are elements that led to the separation. Clearly there was a lack of support from those who really command.
The feeling, embracing the vision of Leo Turrini, is that for Ferrari there is no need to change men following a crazy pattern; rather it is necessary to change a modus operandi, returning to the season in which Maranello dominated thanks to a director of the Racing Divison, namely Jean Todt, who had full managerial powers with the total support of the presidency. A framework in which technical matters were entrusted to Ross Brawn who did not have to supervise political-administrative facts. A simple and effective division of labor to take the flight to any opponent.
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