More than 1,000 people work on Ferrari’s Formula 1 programme in Maranello, yet the Scuderia continues to struggle to produce the benchmark car on the grid. Leo Turrini believes the explanation cannot simply be Ferrari’s distance from Britain’s Motorsport Valley, arguing instead that the solution must begin with a different working culture inside the racing department.
Whenever Ferrari gets a season wrong, the same theory tends to return: Maranello is too far from Formula 1’s technical heartland. Almost every team operates within a few dozen kilometres of Silverstone, where engineers, aerodynamicists and specialist suppliers can move between teams without even having to relocate. Ferrari remains one of the major exceptions, but Leo Turrini is not convinced that geography explains its difficulties.
For Leo Turrini, the problem begins inside the organisation itself, an area Ferrari has already tried to address through changes to its technical and organisational structure.
“I think it would be essential, first of all, to create a different work culture within the racing department. I don’t believe that more than a thousand people, which is how many work on Formula 1 in Maranello, are incapable of ever producing the benchmark car for the competition. It doesn’t make sense, it’s not possible.”
Simone Resta becomes the example of Ferrari’s work culture problem
To support his argument, Leo Turrini points to Simone Resta. After joining Ferrari in 2001 following his early career with Minardi, Simone Resta progressed through the organisation until becoming chief designer in 2014. His first departure came in 2018, when he moved to Sauber as technical director, before returning to Maranello the following year.
Simone Resta later left again for Haas and, since March 2024, has worked at Mercedes, where he is now deputy technical director alongside James Allison. He is therefore part of the team dominating the 2026 World Championship with Kimi Antonelli.
“Everyone who leaves Ferrari, or is sent away — take Resta as the latest example — does well wherever they go. They work well.”
The argument is straightforward. If the same engineer produces less at Maranello and performs strongly at Brackley, Leo Turrini believes the decisive difference lies in the environment surrounding that person rather than Ferrari’s geographical distance from Britain. The issue also feeds into the broader debate over whether Ferrari’s technical and management structure can consistently extract the maximum from its personnel.
Jean Todt’s Ferrari provides Leo Turrini with the historical answer
According to Leo Turrini, Ferrari’s own history has already challenged the Motorsport Valley argument. At the end of the 1980s, Enzo Ferrari entrusted car design to John Barnard, who operated from his technical base in England. The experiment continued during the 1990s under Luca di Montezemolo.
Jean Todt eventually changed that approach. With Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne arriving at Ferrari, and John Barnard unwilling to move to Italy, the technical operation was brought back together in Maranello. The results that followed included the 1999 Constructors’ Championship and five consecutive seasons in which Ferrari and Michael Schumacher won both world titles from 2000 to 2004.
“I don’t believe it, for a reason we have already seen: when Jean Todt said, ‘No, no, we have to do everything here,’ he gave up Barnard, brought everything back to Maranello, and from there Ferrari experienced the greatest period in its history.”
Leo Turrini’s proposed solution therefore does not involve moving Ferrari’s factory or shifting a significant part of its Formula 1 operation to Britain. Instead, it requires Ferrari to become better at attracting the right people from outside the organisation, much as Jean Todt did during the mid-1990s.
“You should instead have the ability to attract these human resources from outside — and I mean top-level people — who can help you grow, bring you the expertise you clearly lack, and create a healthy environment.”
Ferrari challenged to create an environment where talent can thrive
The final part of Leo Turrini’s argument may be the most significant: the need for a healthy working environment. In his view, such an environment would allow an engineer such as Simone Resta to remain at Ferrari and perform at his best rather than leaving Maranello and helping rival teams succeed.
Ferrari has invested heavily in its technical future, including the major programme that shifted resources towards the new Formula 1 regulations and the 2026 project. Leo Turrini’s point, however, is that attracting expertise is only part of the equation. Ferrari also has to create the conditions in which that expertise can flourish.
Plenty of talent has passed through Maranello over the years. The uncomfortable question is how often that talent has reached its full potential only after leaving. It raises another question for Ferrari: how many other engineers with stories similar to Simone Resta’s are now working in Brackley, Woking or Milton Keynes, and how many might consider returning if Ferrari could offer something more than a salary and one of motorsport’s most famous badges?
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