In Formula 1, stability in a workgroup is often synonymous with success. Especially if the team members put common goals before individual ambition. The golden cycle of Scuderia Ferrari at the beginning of the millennium was based on the direction imposed by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo: “dynamic stability” without precluding the inclusion of important professional figures in a strong working group.
A still valid concept that allows you to increase the skills of the individual and facilitate their professional growth. The series of changes in terms of team principals that we have witnessed over the winter has highlighted different philosophies. Andreas Seidl has packed his bags to join Alfa Romeo. Instead he was replaced by Andrea Stella, promoted from within the team.
A great recognition of the qualities of the ex-Ferrari engineer and the confirmation that the Woking team prefers to focus on internal resources. A same policy adopted when Martin Whitmarsh took over from Ron Dennis in 2009.
The Prancing Horse, on the other hand, has decided to entrust the leadership of the team to a figure outside the Ferrari world. Regardless of the few options available, the choice of the French manager is significant. The recent Ferrari history is indicative in this sense. In moments of great difficulty, as history teaches us, the Maranello management decided to entrust the fate of the team to external resources.
Jean Todt and Maurizio Arrivabene, despite their previous partnerships with Scuderia Ferrari, are choices that break with the past dictated by the need to eliminate organizational dynamics that are not up to par. In any competitive context, almost subliminally, bonds of empathy or gratitude are created which over time can be counterproductive for the overall result.
Such stability in critical roles, based on criteria of long tenure rather than an objective assessment of the targets achieved by a certain area of the team, does not always work. One of the elements that most torments the manager of a large organizational structure in judging his collaborators, in fact, concerns the need to separate the human aspect from the actual performance.
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!
F1/Ferrari: Frederic Vasseur’s choice highlights two clear needs
In all likelihood, if Fred Vasseur had declined the Ferrari proposal, the choice would have still been a professional figure outside the Ferrari world. Like what happened in the past, the primary objective was to entrust the leadership of the team to an experienced manager, to avoid evaluations which are affected by long-term relational components.
This scenario does not necessarily imply a reset of the organizational structure. It simply guarantees a “new critical vision” of the dynamics within the Ferrari Racing Division. A context aimed at eliminating official defenses despite the mistakes made by the brand and repeated many times as happened during the management of Mattia Binotto.
The decision to compact the working group during the last few seasons has probably provided various alibis to the top figures of the team. Frederic Vasseur’s choice opens the door to other reflections. In the team formed by Mattia Binotto, no individual has been identified capable of replacing the Italian-Swiss manager following his departure.
We can therefore hypothesize that the top management of Ferrari did not want to make an internal figure with a purely technical background responsible, perhaps through a position that required much broader managerial skills than those acquired in the context of a technical division.
The tenure of the former Prancing Horse team principal was marked by several political defeats. From the “Power Unit Gate” up to the technical directive TD039. Elements that have greatly penalized the sporting results of the Maranello team. If for Frederic Vasseur Ferrari is the culmination of his professional career, for the Prancing Horse the Frenchman is the indispensable man to maximize the enormous potential of the team’s technical area.
Leave a Reply