Ex-F1 driver and current Sky TV commentator Martin Brundle believes that Scuderia Ferrari should avoid the managerial ‘merry-go-round’ in football which often sees head coaches losing their jobs after only a short period of a lack of success, saying the Maranello team should give even more support to their team principal. The Italian side has suffered an abject beginning to the 2019 Formula 1 season as not only have Mercedes won every race so far, but have done so with five consecutive one-two finishes.
Continual disagreements and a lack of communication over team orders with regards to Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc have also seen the team come in for criticism. Mattia Binotto replaced Maurizio Arrivabene as Ferrari team boss in the winter, but finds himself under increasing pressure due to the poor performance on the track.
Martin Brundle thinks the Italian is doing the job of multiple men, however, and should be given backing.
“The Ferrari drivers are both making too many mistakes, and the team’s race strategies lack clarity and conviction. They are allowing an over-performing Max Verstappen in a temporarily mildly underperforming Red Bull to outshine them. Even when they did have Merc on the ropes in Bahrain they blew it.” – Martin Brundle wrote in his latest Sky Sports column.
“However, the team must unequivocally and openly support their leader Mattia Binotto and build further support around him. Not discard him like some kind of football manager merry-go-round. He seems a decent man, a racer with absolute knowledge of all things Ferrari F1, and an approachable and inclusive manager at a time when the team needs stability. I asked Binotto on camera in Bahrain if he felt he could really handle a role which to a large extent Mercedes share between the considerable talents of Toto Wolff, James Allison and Andy Cowell. Yes, the same James Allison Ferrari let go, among others. Binotto replied that he had the right people around him to complete the task.” – he explained.
The Italian press are often scathing of Ferrari when things don’t go right for the team, and Martin Brundle thinks the kind of pressure of being backed by a whole country, unlike Mercedes, provides an even bigger impetus to avoid defeats.
“Furthermore, Mercedes’ hierarchy are not carrying the weight of expectation and pressure of an entire nation and its demanding media like Ferrari do. Binotto’s scholarly calmness will be tested to the extreme which is why he needs support. I hope he has Ross Brawn on speed dial for advice too,” he added.
Scuderia Ferrari are currently 96 points behind Mercedes in the constructor’s championship ahead of the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix.
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