Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Binotto. Or do.

I think John Surtees is on record finally talking about why he left - Dragoni has been pushing Bandini and Scarfiotti (a relative of Angelli ) and at Le Mans he wanted Scarfiotti to start the race and for Surtees to fill in during the more boring ( night time ) duties. Surtees completely disagreed, stating that Scarfiotti did not have the experience etc... and that Bandini did not want to be the lead driver - none the less Dragoni persisted and the Old Man went along because he was doing his deal with Angelli behind the scenes. all year Dragoni was pushing for an all-Italian team of drivers in F-1 thinking that Bandini was better than Surtees... while Surtees was doing all the development of the F-1 312 prototypes, Bandini was setting the fastest lap times at Modena Aerodrome..... I think for the Old Man it was the money more than anything else survival vs. honor.

 

I've been following all the rumors in the Italian press... and its the same thing as its been for years - predictions and all a bunch of theories.. I think Binotto was good overall, but his fatal flaw was when he would not acknowledge the failures of the team, he did not take responsibility and he did not make changes fast enough. Also his comment about winning the last 10 races just made him and the team seem like they were in a different universe.

Had he said "Yes, we screwed up, I take full responsibility for the team's faults and we are working intensively behind the scenes to correct our shortcomings, and it is my number one goal to ensure that our drivers have 100% faith in our strategy and pit work as well as developing the car." or something like that, I don't think he'd be in the situation he's in right now. Regardless if he leaves or not - Ferrari are on the back foot. It now looks like Leclerc is angry at the team and Binotto, Sainz and Santandar have $$$ over Ferrari ... and that nobody wants to own up to its massive failures this year. Elkann has to come out and own this.... and shut it all down, and frankly he and Piero need to be more present and vocal on support of the team - and whoever the new manager is.

Brawn is NOT going to run Ferrari... I don't know who is, but I'm happy to do the job if nobody else wants it.

 

Now I recall that protest, without knowing the intrigue behind it. Thanks for that.

For all his preference of Italian drivers, Dragoni was very successful during his time at the gestione sportive.
In 5 years, the Scuderia won the constructors championship (sportscars) 4 times, Le Mans 3 times, plus one WDC (Surtees).
1966 was very promising both in F1 and endurance, but the season went pear-shaped after the La Mans incident I related.

 

According to what was said, Dragoni's last minute swap of drivers at Le Mans went against a pre-arranged strategy where Surtees was supposed to take the start and play the hare, in an effort to break the Fords. He was after all the fastest driver.
Typical clash of personalities: Dragoni wanting to run the team along national preferences v. Surtees looking after his interests.
John Surtees didn't seem to have a huge ego: he turned down Colin Chapman's offer to lead team Lotus, the job went to Jim Clark.
But if he was quiet and efficient, he could be opinionated at times, as happened when he was contradicted at Ferrari.
His impulsiveness this time did cost him his job, and his career never recovered.
But if Ferrari lost a very good driver, Dragoni didn't survive the year.

 

John being pushed out probably cost us Le Mans that year as well....

 

Very interesting contribution. Thank you!

 

Well, you can rule Brawn out of the Ferrari TP role.

He'll be watching F1 from his sofa.

 

I met Surtees once, and know a couple of people who knew him well .... His ego was pretty healthy. He would dig in when he felt he was right. Then later with his own team, he just would not let the designers design, and he insisted on meddling with their work, and doing the testing. Even with Henry Surtees his son he was testy with the team... when I met him he was "less" than welcoming .... but once Jackie Stewart said "oh, this guy knows all about the 60's" - he warmed up. met him at Goodwood in 2011.

 

I met John Surtees a few times at Classic Bikes Meetings, where he brought and sometimes demonstrated some of the bikes in his collection. Once we visited him in the historical 15th century barn he had restaured to view his collection, so my opinion of John Surtees is mostly from a biker's point of view. He was quite pleasant, unassuming, spoke with a low voice and had a great depth of knowledge. You would soon know that John loved to tinker with machinery, and could be quite good at it.
I learnt that switching to 4-wheel was accidental, and mostly brought on by financial necessity. Under contract at MV-Agusta, he was prevented from racing other make.
After a while Count Agusta stopped lending him bikes for the British championship deciding to concentrate only on the world championship. For John Surtees who was multi world champion, that meant a loss of income, since he could obtain very good start money, plus sponsorship from just racing at home. Geoff Duke, who had made the switch by driving for Aston Martin, lured him to single-seater. John tried it and was immediatly competitive. The rest is history.
I have the feeling that John Surtees enjoyed the atmosphere around motorcycling more than in F1 or sportscars.

 

I would love to tap into the F1 braintrust here.

Simple question:

Seems like the car is fast, drivers good

Why couldn't Binotto fix strategy?

 

Several issues for 2022 regarding Ferrari.

1) Car was turned down throughout the season due to reliability.

2) Binotto didn't make Leclerc their #1 driver. (Santander conspiracy is a possibility but don't quote me on it).

3) A couple of driver errors.

4) Correct, strategy was an issue at several GP's.

Binotto throughout the season didn't admit fault on any of the topics above UNTIL the end of the season. I guess he didn't want to show weakness.

 

Yeah, it's hair pulling. The strategy mistakes just seem so....unnecessary.

 

It was amateurish at best.

 

The pit work was even worse, and should be the first priority, IMO.

Not having tyres ready, having one tyre missing, or putting the wrong tyres are not excusable for a team with decades of experience.

 

Yep, Ferrari did that pit stop with 3 different tires btw......they were completely clueless.

 

Sainz disagrees, he says he adapted his driving style to suit the car as the season went on. It appears that his slower adaptation to it was the reason LeClerc outperformed him earlier in the season:

https://racingnews365.com/sainz-corrects-completely-fake-theory-on-ferraris-2022-development​

He's 68 years old and he's held high-pressure positions for almost his entire career. At this point, he's got nothing left to prove and taking the FIA role for the past 5ish years was sort of a step back in terms of pressure. He's earned a comfortable retirement.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Binotto deserves one more season to see if he sincerely learnt from past mistakes
Anyways it not like they have a superstar waiting to take over the position ?

 

Not the biggest fan of Binotto (based on his actions and what he says in public and to the press—not sure how good a manager of people he is at the factory) but one thing’s for sure if they change leadership before the start of the season: Ferrari will be in another “transition” year and will not win anything next year.

No way someone new comes in, turns the team around and they start winning regularly.

 

The car was only fast prior to TD39.

 

A team boss swap is meaningless unless they get rid of idiots on the pit wall and the new guy given free reign to make organizational changes without question.

 

Yeah, pit wall change goes without saying, for sure. But of you add a change in management too then there goes any stability or continuity.

Now, if it is indeed Binotto resisting changes to the race operations—or worse, if he really believes no changes are needed—he really needs to be hit by the door as he leaves.

 

The only way the monkeys on the pit wall could be worse is if they started throwing banana peels on the track immediately before Leclerc comes down the straight.