I like it but perhaps with an alternative ending. Also from a posting further above... "The word from Italy is that the pressure has been increasing on Montezemolo. He has recently handed over the leadership of Italia Futura and there has been speculation that the Agnelli's are ready to replace him with 38-year-old Andrea Agnelli, currently running the Juventus soccer team. Montezemolo is 66 and at retirement age for most people. The Ferrari road car business is doing well, but there has not been success on the track. Domenicali was very close to Montezemolo and while it is not clear whether he jumped or was pushed, it is entirely possible that Stefano decided his own fate. He has been with Ferrari for 23 years, working his way up the ladder, learning every aspect of the team and leading from the front. It is entirely possible that he decided to stand down because he was disappointed by what he had achieved and felt that it was best to go.' This also opens the door for Andrea Agnelli to step in without looking bad. Even a couple of more bad years can be placed at Luca's doorstep.
I know Marco (I always call him Mr. Mariachi (inside joke)), but i don't see him as a F1 principal, sorry Marco . LDM must be using working with him as a future replacement for LDM himself. Congratulations!
Ferrari are under more pressure than ever before.On one hand they have to deal with the combo of Red Bull and Newey on the other engineering expertise and financial strength of Mercedes.IMO the competition in F1 has never been tougher
Even with no previous motorsport experience, Marco Mattiacci cannot really do any worse than Domenicalli. Alonso has only eleven wins going into his fifth year at the team and so it is no wonder he is fed(Fred?) up.
From my insider: Luca and Mattiacci are friends -and are cut from same cloth. he's not an engineer but kinda ruthless business guy - leader - either help or get out of the way kind of guy. that is what Ferrari need. no BS. someone who will make hard decisions now. Alonso is gone as well - you can tell. he will not stay around for this. Ferrari / Alonso have till Monaco - if he has not won some races and is in contention by then - its over. ( might be a good thing ) ... I saw Saward's post and agree. Luca is getting up there - and life is catching up with him. he's done a great job but there is no replacement for him... that is a problem for FIAT. Piero is a dud... so he is not relevant... nice guy but a dud. so they have more than just a team problem now - its overall leadership. they should have kept Todt & Brawn. this whole All Italian thing is crazy.
Brawn is pure genius and a class act. He showed us around the garage in Montreal in '98 for three days and was very engaging. He should be tired of drowning bait and ready to come back to Ferrari. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Probably true, but I still don't understand the reasons for bringing Kimi back. He's quick but very inconsistent and he is 34. It makes more sense to me to hire a younger driver like Hulkenburg who can really grow with the refreshed team.
It's moneyball for Formula 1. Freddy can make the most of an underperforming car, and Kimi has a strong ability to accumulate points over the course of a season - even if the car isn't a WDC contender. This was an attempt to gain instand gratification for Ferrari and chalk-up a WCC with an otherwise uncompetitive car. The plan might have worked if Mercedes didn't unleash an unstoppable package.
Gotta agree with you. LdM has made some great although few good decisions for the race team, like hiring Jean Todt. But after that, he is simply an ass. What he has done for the road cars has nothing to do with the F1 race team. For the last what 8-10 years, whenever he broke up a really successful team I can not remember at this moment, he has been nothing more than a detriment to the race team. He needs to move on to politics, something all rectums do. He has become an embarrassment to the name Ferrari. He keeps going to the press with some rather moronic comments. Some here think because is it FERRARI, they rule. NOT. Some of us can not support this "team" just because it is supposedly Ferrari. LdM and Alonso, despite his talent, have become Ferrari's dead weight. Karma.
Enzo won 8 championships in 38 years in charge. He made mistakes. He went a decade after 64 without a championship. Was he an 'ass'?
I think if you talk to people who knew and worked for Enzo he was not a saint. he was a prick of the highest order. He was focused on one thing: Enzo Ferrari... if you happend to be aligned with him great it worked - if not he drove right over you with out a moments hesitation.... At the end of his life he was a living legend. and that is how he got respect and patronage... even that could not fix the F-1 team. the truth about Enzo is people found it very hard to work with him as he was constatnly paranoid and too aware of what italian public opinion was about him.
I read in autosport that Montezemolo will be more involved, and he needs to be. ultimatly he engineered the whole move to "more italian" Ferrari.... and that is not going to work... I dont think any team can be aligned with its nationality any more.... Renault all French , Ligier, or Prost ... they never worked well when it was all French... same goes here. too much pride and internal rivalry. I think Mattaicci is a good move - you need somebody who can cut thru the crap and report to LDM / FIAT and grab their attention and focus.
Renault, Ligier and Prost were in turn the recipients and then victims of political interference. Ligier was backed for many years by the French tobacco company, thanks to his long term association with the people in power then. When they were replaced, the sponsorship dried up and Guy Ligier had to sell his team. Prost took over and based his effort on a participation from Peugeot. Peugeot was to receive a government loan to build a new factory. When the next government came, Peugeot didn't receive the promised loan and baulked at the idea of continuing supplying F1 engines. The Prost project was scuppered and soon went bankrupt.
Gotta love this quote from Luca in the Autosport article: "I've decided to go for a young manager I strongly believe in, and on a person from the Ferrari family, thus avoiding me going around the world looking for some mercenary."
This made me wonder of this comments relationship to Ross possibly returning or not. We can only speculate, though speculation can be so fun.
to me i focus on the "i strongly believe in". marco has met every challenge that luca has thrown at him so far. f1 is the biggest yet. forza marco! also symbolic that his first race in shanghai where he established ferrari and lived for a few years
Whether Marco can improve the team aside, personally, one thing I'm looking forward to seeing is whether Marco can "win the press conference." We often see it in our sports teams, there is always at least one guy or two on a team that has the ability to captivate it's fans. Following Marco for a while, I think this will be a challenge for him and as a result may cause the fan base to lose faith early in his capabilities. In running Ferrari North America, for the most part it occured in a bubble. Marco only had to answer to Luca and the occassional dealer issue. On the press side, Marco had the occasional meeting with automotive and business journalists and the questions and answers were typically the same. In F1 everyone knows your business, it's not working in a bubble anymore, the press questions are more diverse so it requires a person that is competent not only in public speaking, but playing the political game with the media. I saw a recent interview with Marco with Bloomberg from a few weeks ago and once again he was asked the typical same questions all journalists ask about running Ferrari North America and then towards the end Marco was questioned about the technical aspects of the 458 Speciale and he seemed to struggle to answer and to get out of it did the typical change the subject and continue to speak for an exteneded period of time to control the interview to where you want it to go. It worked, but it wasn't smooth. Stefano I think improved all along his tenure his ability to play the political game with the press, of course towards the end with all the losing, it all became bull****, but thats the challenge Marco faces and it will be fascinating to watch.
