Would Michael Schumacher make a good team boss?

FORD has no more passion left and that is a sad thing!

 

Gurney's AAR team did pretty well in IMSA GTP if i remember right. It just never translated into anything after that, so i wouldn't say he was a slouch team manager either.

 

+1

 

You repeat everything time and time again. Suddenly you're surprised that no one pays attention to you?

A history lesson for you, jackass: Ferrari has spent much of its history teetering on the brink of insolvency.

 

A history lesson for you... Ferrari is the only team to be in F1 from the start to present...

The secret to their survival... Passion!

Your HISTORY Lesson:

*****************
Enzo Ferrari's true passion, despite his extensive road car business, was always auto racing. His Scuderia started as an independent sponsor for drivers in various cars, but soon became the Alfa Romeo in-house racing team. After Ferrari's departure from Alfa, he began to design and produce cars of his own; the Ferrari team first appeared on the European Grand Prix scene after the end of World War II.

In 1949, Luigi Chinetti drove a Model 166M to Ferrari's first win in motorsports, which was at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Chinetti drove the automobile for all except twenty minutes of the Grand Prix race. Chinetti soon became the American dealer for Ferraris and established the North American Racing Team, Ferrari's official racing arm. The dealership is reported to have provided the sales that kept the company in business through sales to wealthy Americans, such as Briggs Cunningham, who bought the first one Chinetti sold through the new dealership.

The Scuderia joined the Formula One World Championship in the first year of its existence, 1950. José Froilán González gave the team its first victory at the 1951 British Grand Prix.

Alberto Ascari gave Ferrari its first Drivers Championship a year later. Ferrari is the oldest team left in the championship, not to mention the most successful: the team holds nearly every Formula One record. As of 2005, the team's records include fourteen World Drivers Championship titles (1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), fourteen World Constructors Championship titles (1961, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), 179 Grand Prix victories, 3,445 and a half points, 544 podium finishes, 174 pole positions, 11,182 laps led, and 180 fastest laps in 1,622 Grands Prix contested.

Notable Ferrari drivers include Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Luigi Chinetti, Alberto Ascari, Phil Hill, Olivier Gendebien, Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, John Surtees, Jacky Ickx, Mario Andretti, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Gilles Villeneuve, Gerhard Berger, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, and Michael Schumacher.
*****************

 

The secret to their survival is cash infusions from Fiat.

Now shut the **** up.

 

Easy with the language please.

Not sure btw you're right about the cash infusions: They certainly come in handy and I don't dispute them, but: It'd be really interesting to see how far the Scuderia is self sustaining. They are making tons of money through their sponsors and in merchandising. They certainly are a cost, but then again, that goes as marketing expense for the Ferrari cars (where Ferrari has the policy of not advertising).

It is hard to get the numbers, but just putting it down to cash infusions is not looking at the whole picture.

 

Yes, those of us who understand the Scuderia's origins are aware of this. But wasn't Ford only trying to piss off Il Commandatore because he wouldn't sell the company to them? Ford's short term foray into world class racing didn't impress some of us. Kind of like Honda's success in F1 in the 60s. So what. Now they are back but has anyone really felt the F1 world was in for a drubbing? Impy is right about commitment.

Excellent point, but at least Ferrari showed up in a vastly superior form of racing when they "hid".

I'm not familiar with how close those two companies really are. My opinion is that they aren't - like Ilmor and Chevrolet were. Can you show me where significant DFV technology was transferred to a Ford road car?

Impy may have passion, to a fault, but its all a matter of interpretation. If we all saw things the same way it would be pretty boring around here.

 

LoL...ur a newbie here...show some respect.

 

No way, he is not good.

 

This is actually a nice short summary that some who may not have followed the history of racing may find informative.

 

Does Porsche, BMW , Audi , VW or Mercedes have a rich history like Ferrari....not in F1 but in other forms of auto sports ?

 

VW?

 

he means volkswagen

 

This is off topic but it would take a few hours to assemble a response in the context of Porsche, Audi, and Mercedes. But the short answer on VW is that they don't even pretend to be involved in racing.

 

Cash infusions from FIAT... I guess you missed business 101... a company that has no money cannot support another that needs money.

As for your use of language and terminology I would say you missed university and most of high school. Have a nice day!

 

It is the history of F1...
It is the history of one man's passion and one man's passionate legacy!
It is the history of racing passion!

Without passion and drive there cannot be any success in F1!

 

That's the reason for my VW? response. I didn't think I had slept through the racing activities of a manufacturer that big. Although that one guy with the wee little moustache, that built all those rapid roadways, did get together with this other guy from Germany named Fred, to build the "Peoples" car. Fred then went on to build some cars that have won a lot of races.

 

VW has a good track record in one of the world's toughest races: The Dakar.

 

I'm suprised in the lists of failed or sucesfull ex drivers nobodys mentioned the late great Bruce Mclaren, quite possibly the only ex driver turned team owner / manager comparable to MS (with the exception of the fatal testing accident of course)

 

Just since the creation of the Touareg/Porsches. But your right, they have run up front, finished in the top 5.

Hey Andreas, maybe youve seen this, but I just bounced into it.
www.motorsportsetc.com Nothing but stats.

 

You missed Business 201 - it can if it is being subsidized by the government.

And I always thought Enzo Ferrari's true passion was ENGINES, I thought he was quoted once as saying 'I build ENGINES, the car is just something that goes around them', or something like that...

 

Over the years, FIAT seems to have bailed out at least twice.
In 54/55, LANCIA went bust. FIAT offered the entire LANCIA GP team to Ferrari, and the budget to race it for the next 2 years.
In 55/56, Ferrari F1 cars were entered as LANCIA-FERRARI, the V8 D-50 type. Ferrari's own car, the Squalo was a flop.

In 63, FERRARI was in big financial difficulties, hence the FORD approach, and the deal that fell through. FERRARI wanted to keep 90% interest in his racing team, and was ready to sell the car production, just keeping 10%.

Soon after FIAT came to the rescue with collaboration for the DINO that would share components with the FIAT-DINO. In 68, FIAT took shares in FERRARI's capital. The arrangement was that at FERRARI's death, FIAT would assume full control, but for 15% left to Ferrari's son Piero Lardi Ferrari.

After 68, FIAT sent some managers at Maranello to organise things for the transfer of power. Even the racing team became under their control, and Luca de Montezemollo was employed by FIAT, like some of the production managers. Most of it was done with Ferrari's consent. FIAT also sponsored the FERRARI team through Olio FIAT.

FIAT automobile may be in troubles (there was talk of GM taking over a few years ago, they had 20% of the stock: Colonel Ghadafi held up to 15% at one time too!), but the FIAT GROUP is not: they own steel factories, national newspapers, motorways, real estate, football clubs, interests in IVECO trucks, AGIP petrol, and so on.

 

This just in..
Impy made team boss for 2007.
Bout time for an unbiassed team boss.

 

That position has been taken.

Ferrari is a story of passion. The story of F1, the F os which stands for Ferrari , is the story of that passion.

Ferrari has been in F1 since the start and the rest have come and gone... business skills can be taught and passed on. Passion is the secret ingredient for success.