With Frederic Vasseur at the top of the Formula 1 Racing Division, Ferrari has taken the first steps in terms of changes relating to the organizational structure. The French manager did it even before identifying the ideal setup for the SF-23 challenger, by appointing Ravin Jain as head of strategies for Ferrari, which is the first measure that ‘breaks’ the line of loyal staff shaped over the years by Mattia Binotto.
Stability in the top motorsport category is a value that has an expiration date, especially if the targets set are not met. While Red Bull has not recorded any changes in the team’s top roles, other teams have tried to “correct” their shortcomings with several chenges in prominent positions of the top management.
Scuderia Ferrari opted for the change, through the choice of a team principal from outside the Maranello environment, being aware that the time of Mattia Binotto was over just like a single-seater that had reached the end of its development.
If the repeated limitations highlighted by the historic Italian team during the Mattia Binotto management are at the origin of its “defenestration”, it must be taken into account that 95% of the human resources and all of the technological infrastructures will be the main assets on which the engineer French will have to build the basis for future victories.
In this context, the most effective way to maximize human and technological potential is the review of processes within sports management. Frederic Vasseur, thanks to his previous experiences, brings methodologies and decision-making processes in line with organizations that are significantly leaner and more functional than the one recently adopted by the Prancing Horse.
Any modification applied to a complex model can guarantee beneficial effects and just as many weaknesses. In a recent statement, the French executive detailed the reasons for the Inaki Rueda/Ravin Jain switch. The primary purpose concerns the flow of communication which must be more direct, necessary to react correctly in a very short time in delicate situations.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
According to the information gathered by the Formula One Technical Analysis editorial team, the operating protocol has undergone several changes to avoid problems upstream. At the root of the errors, in fact, was the failure to read the context which automatically led to making the wrong choice. A measure to “simplify” the decision-making process by minimizing mistakes.
A dynamic methodology which, with the support of algorithms created through artificial intelligence, will provide the tools suitable for the race strategy to forge and manage the cognitive and emotional aspects. An organization called “crystal clear”: flexible, collaborative and agile to take advantage of the high internal skills.
Ferrari: Enrico Cardile and Sanchez David at the center of the project
The new team principal of Scuderia Ferrari is aware that his background will be able to support him in the process of improving methodologies, in a sector where technical and operational choices have to be made in extremely short times.
However, the top teams have practically similar staffing numbers and Frederic Vasseur will have to manage, for the first time in his career, a very deep pyramid structure. Suffice to say that the staff of Scuderia Ferrari has three times the human resources employed compared to Sauber.
The delegation of the technical aspects to Enrico Cardile, who is currently an unofficial technical director, is a fundamental step towards the subdivision of roles and responsibilities. A senario that will allow the French manager to carry out the classic duties of a team principal.
Like Ravin Jain, Enrico Cardile is extremely talented person: 47 years old, born in Arezzo, he has been with Ferrari since 2005, when he was hired just 3 years after graduating in aerospace engineering. It is not yet known whether Enrico Cardile will be exclusively entrusted with the technical management of the team or he will have to continue to oversee the so-called “chassis area” at the same time.
In the logic of simplification, the centralization of multiple responsibilities for the same professional figure is not what the British call a “best practice”. Therefore, it is very likely that when Cardile is promoted to technical director in the light of day, the responsibility of the chassis area will be entrusted to David Sanchez.
From a purely organizational point of view, for Ferrari, this is a substantial step back similar to what could be seen before Mattia Binotto was promoted to the role of team principal: a past in which the very important figure of the technical director was actually covered by the Italian manager with certainly not excellent results.
Ferrari: back to the future in the Montezemolo era
It was 2014, one of the most ominous for Scuderia Ferrari. Luca di Montezemolo asked for an immediate revision to streamline internal procedures, compressing the intermediate phases and aspects of a bureaucratic nature, in order to guarantee greater flexibility and increasingly effective decision-making processes.
Going into practice, a maximum number of recipients for operational emails was established. Until then, communications were copied to dozens of technicians, engineers and heads of sectors, generating a volume of information that slowed down the start of operating procedures.
From a certain moment on, therefore, it was established within Ferrari that no more than three accounts could be added in CC. The goal was to drastically reduce the time required to agree correct judgments on the choices that had to be made.
Difficulties that for some reason had been resurrected and were still present in the Ferrari Racing Division until a few weeks ago and circumstance that should be eliminated with a clean slate by Frederic Vasseur, who wants to “normalize” the processes and catch up with the fierce competition represented by Red Bull and Mercedes.
Leave a Reply