Exclusive interview of Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto for the Ferrari Magazine by Daniele Bresciani:
How do you remember the moment of the change?
“It was a bit more sudden than expected. On the seventh of January I had to depart for London and at the airport in Bologna I bought a copy of Gazzetta dello Sport, and its front page carried the news of my appointment. So we had to bring forward the announcement, which wasn’t easy, but we were able to handle it alright.”
Compared to before, has the management side become more human and less technical?
“I wouldn’t say so, considering that ninety per cent of the Gestione Sportiva is made up of technicians. Now my new role covers also the other ten per cent: communications, marketing, sponsorship, legal. Just as there have been other areas added, in which perhaps I’m less qualified. You could say that, whereas before, as Technical Director, I was used to just spending, now as Team Principal I have to think about making savings or even creating earnings.”
Is there any rule that you consider absolutely essential?
“Something that comes partly from my engineering studies and from having grown up in Switzerland: I’m convinced that it’s important to have rigorous procedures. It’s what helps me to manage a structure as large as ours. On the one hand it’s true that you have to look after relations with individuals. The human, emotional side is fundamental, but on the other hand it is a complex machine that has to work perfectly. And above all in Formula 1 everything must function efficaciously and efficiently. To be clear, the problem is not how to develop something with 1,000 horsepower, but to do so before the others do, so it’s precisely having efficient processes that enables you to be quicker at developing things.”
The first public outing was on the fifteenth of February, with the presentation of the new single-seater, the SF90.
“I think it was one of the most beautiful of recent years. For me it was very emotional. And it was the debut of our hashtag too, the #essereFerrari which really means a lot to me.” Then came the first Grand Prix, in Australia. “After the Winter testing, which had gone really well, we had a lot of expectations, but instead we ended up having a cold shower. Apart from that, it was for me my first race ‘on the pit wall’ after 25 years of competition. When I was still a motoring engineer I used to say to myself ‘sooner or later you’ll stop attending races and the one thing that you’ll later think that you have missed out on will be not having done a race ‘al muretto’ – on the pit wall. Instead I made my debut there, in a position from which you have a completely different perspective compared to the box.”
Is that why we see you so often looking behind you?
“I couldn’t say. But my role is also to make sure that everything is functioning correctly and so keeping an eye on the box is important. But it’s true, I am a man of the box and I only need a quick look over at the mechanics to be able to tell what’s happening. It’s more useful for me to keep an eye on that rather than on the screens.”
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