In the last line of the Scuderia Ferrari official press release accompanying the resignation of Mattia Binotto, it was explained that “the process to identify the new team principal of the Scuderia” would start, and that this search should end “in the new year”.
But, as is well known, the role of Mattia Binotto was much broader than that of a simple team manager, given that he had also assumed the title of technical director and was in fact the internal and external reference point of the Ferrari Formula 1 project.
And precisely this reason of being the sole responsabile of the entire Racing Department seems to have been one of the key factors in John Elkann’s decision to change the top management of the Formula 1 team, as reported by today’s edition of the Italian daily newspaper Corriere dello Sport.
The newspaper from Rome reports the conviction of the Ferrari president regarding the “non-productivity” of assigning multiple roles to the same responsible person. This led to the idea of replicating the organizational structure which exists at Red Bull ( the Austrian side was in fact the first one to adopt it).
John Elkann would in fact have in mind a “three-role” model, made up of “a super boss”, “a classic team principal” and “a technical director”. The “super boss” is defined as “strong and direct”, also “not necessarily coming from the engine sector”, certainly “not an engineer”, who can personally deal with Formula 1 politics and therefore the relations with other teams and the Federation. The team principal and the technical director would have autonomy respectively at the executive level on the pit wall and for the design of the single-seater, with the latter coming from the “chassis/aerodynamics” area and no longer from the engines. In short, three positions who would follow the model of the Red Bull team, namely the politician Helmut Marko, the manager Christian Horner and the designer Adrian Newey, all focusing around the reference driver Max Verstappen.
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The names that Corriere dello Sport speaks of are those that have already emerged in recent days, with the possible return in Maranello as technical director of Simone Resta, while for the key role of team principal Frederic Vasseur no longer seems to be a clear option, as John Elkann is “looking for someone who is a valid alternative”, according to the Italian newspaper.
The Ferrari senior management is working tirelessly on this matter, as confirmed by President John Elkann’s visit just last Tuesday, which took place”when it was already dark at 5.18 pm from the small heliport on the edge of the Fiorano track”, informs the Rome-based sports newspaper.
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