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

I think it would be difficult for anyone to turn down that position. Self awareness is an admirable trait, but sometimes it has to be sublimated to reasonable ambition. I don’t know much about Italian business culture but turning down a big promotion might to taken by the bosses as, “You don’t know me as well as you think” or “Why would a reasonable man insult us by not accepting our generous offer?”

 

From what I heard he wasn’t “offered” so much as leveraged and politic’d his way into it.

 

Exactly, and elite sports is a tough world.

 

Sometimes it's better to turn down a position you don't think you are fit for.
At least that could be seen as being honest, unless the management absolutely looks for a scapegoat. .
In the case of Binotto, accepting the TP job may well end his career at Maranello.
He has been at Ferrari for 23 years, and knew all the pitfalls.

 

I'll go on the record and predict that if Binotto leaves Ferrari, the team will not be any better.

Same strategy team
Same design team
Same mechanics

What is really changing that is going to help them win races?

 

I don't know if Binotto is actually wrong for the job or not. But, I am concerned that if Ferrari does throw him out, they are proving that they are just a revolving door organization that is in perpetual search for the next scapegoat.

I am reminded of what a friend once talked about as the "Moses Syndrome" - a company hires someone new and expects his to part the Red Sea and deliver them to the promised land. When it turns out that the person did not come with the Moses sandals then they throw the guy out because he did not deliver the impossible. I have seen some situations where an organization did the revolving door act and the person that really made the necessary changes to get the place functioning correctly had been thrown out a few administrations before but when it all came together the current occupant gets all the credit for not screwing up what was underway.

As I understood it from the Todt, Brawn, Byrne days, one of the ways it worked is that they had been protected from the normal corporate politics so they were allowed to do what was necessary. They were a great team that accomplished monumentally but would that have been able to make that happen if they had been afraid that their tenure was at risk over every single decision? Maybe that explains why Ross Brawn turned down going back to Ferrari and instead went to the FIA.

 

I agree. I believe the root of the problem comes much higher up than the Team Principle role. I think the CEO's and top level admins of Ferrari and Fiat are dictating what is allows and what is not. I speculate that they want Ferrari to be as Italian as possible and they want people that also believe in this idea. Naturally being in Italy, the vast majority of their workforce will be Italian, but I feel like when it comes to key roles that require a world class level of expertise, they are still hyper focused on giving those positions to Italians. If this is case, then you have to wonder how deeply rooted is the problem? Are we now talking about people having jobs at Ferrari because they are friends and family of certain powerful people within Ferrari? Is this why we never seen necessary personnel changes in the departments that continue to make mistakes?

I certainly know if I was a high valued individual that had all the skills and experience to lead a team, I wouldn't want to go to Ferrari if it mean my hands were going to be tied by a structure that protects a flawed idea.

 

Imaging if the Todt, Brawn, Byrne were all tossed the year before their long winning streak began........

 

It all depends of the resources and latitude of movement given to him.
The new principal will have to reorganise the Scuderia, select his staff, change some methods, recruit from outside, operate some culling, etc ... It won't happend overnight, and that will sideline the team for a while.
If there is not a complete overhaul of the Scuderia, it will just be another wallpapering over the cracks.

 

I think Binotto actually did a good job with delegating their resources. The PU got a huge upgrade in performance, which is what the car needed. Rumors suggested it was the top engine at the beginning of the year. Rory Byrne came back and they focused on a radical aero design that worked extremely well.

It sounds like we both agree that the people within the company are the problem. We know there have to be changes and improvements made in the strategy department, within the mechanics, and the quality control team. Everyone can see their mistakes, yet Binotto made no changes. This either suggest that Binotto is blind to the obvious and absolutely needs to get fired, or the people they are willing to hire are not better than they already have, or he is under orders to keep the people they already have. If we look at history, Ferrari have been making serious mistakes since 2008 and it continues to get worse, regardless of the Team Principle.

Going off the pattern, you have to think the same people making mistakes will still be there under a new Team Principle. Lets hope that is not how it will be.

 

As a company, Ferrari has stopped being 100% Italian sometime ago. It's actually listed in the Netherlands, it's Chairman in American citizen, and most of the shares are probably owned by non-Italian. BTW, FIAT has been out of the equation for sometime now.
But it's located in Italy, and the majority of the Ferrari staff is Italian, and through the unions, the employement laws protect their jobs.
As a structure, even on the shop floor, Ferrari is riddled with internal conflicts, rivalry between different groups of workers, some restrictive practices, political interests, etc ... Many consider a job at Ferrari as a job for life, and will do their utmost to get their relatives recruited. That goes for the racing branch too.
That's the reality, and it's quite a leap of faith to accept the challenge, IMO.
At all time the team principal will be undermined, and and any time he can be replaced.

 

There is no way that Ferrari can be 100% Italian in this day in age. But if you look up and down their roster of the leaders and people that go to the races, it's heavily an Italian born outfit. As I touched on, naturally the majority of the workers are going to be Italian, just as the majority of employees at Red Bull's or Mercedes factories are British. However, when it comes to the specialists and department leads, I think they aren't looking as globally as they should.

It reminds me of the Montreal Canadians NHL hockey team. They have a history of trying to keep the team and organization as French as possible. That motto has not given them much success since 1993. Now days, the teams that recruit the best players and coaches, regardless of nationality, are the teams that win the Cup

Is Ferrari unionized? I don't know. Without question a LOT of the employees that land a job consider it a life time career. Which is great. However, as it always seems to happen in these types of companies, there is a huge amount of "who you know" that gets the next generation a job. Hiring and promoting within the company can certainly be advantageous, but it can be equally harmful.

 

Yes, Ferrari is unionised, and there were strikes in the Scuderia in the past.
These days, it's not a good idea to stay with the same employer above a certain level is you work in a technical industry.
Engineers and technicians learn and expand their experience by moving from jobs to jobs all through their career.
If you keep working constantly in the same environment in hi-tec, you get stale. It's certanly true in F1: Designers move all the time.
From an employer's point of view, someone who makes himself too comfortable in the same company for many years shows a lack of ambition, and no desire to progress. I have 2 sons engineers who tell me that.

 

This is a very true statement. Internal promotions can be advantageous if the person has the ability to move the organization forward. But promoting a person because they "fit" what the company wants in terms of superfluous characteristics (e.g. being Italian) without taking into account actual leadership qualities will be a disaster. I have personally went to the outside in order to fill positions that were critical to improving the engineering department. Even if you have a culture of mentoring high potential people, it does not necessarily guarantee success.

Ferrari needs to get the people who are competent and that means they need to look globally to find the best talent and leaders.

 

I'm sure Ferrari has looked globally to find the best talent and have offered a considerable sum of money. The question is, the best don't necessarily want to move to Italy.

Most of the talent pool with regards to F1 is in Great Britain. You will find the best engineers and strategists and good team principals.

I've always had this mindset that Ferrari F1(I stress only the F1 dept) needs to move to Great Britain to hire the best there is. They would have a better selection of the talent pool available.

 

That didn’t work… twice.

And the Ferrari team of 2000-2004 bet to differ. Also, Ducati in MotoGP are showing what can be done in Italy with people who understand racing from the top of the organization.

Also, most British teams are run not by Brits but by Germans and Austrians, so can’t really make generalizations. And finally, most British based teams are losing organizations so again not making a good case for that.

 

Ferrari had Brits design their cars through the early 90's and then again the early the 2010's. It did not go well. At all.

What Ferrari need is to admit their short comings as an organization, and where the team and cars are lacking. They don't have fix every problem perfectly. Hell, Mercedes have never had the best pit stops or strategy. But they have to be aware of where they can be the best, where they need to improve, and certain areas they'll probably always be lacking in. That requires self awareness by not just the TP, but also higher leadership in the board room.

 

One problem Ferrari must fix is their issues with aero drag. It's killing them. For 5 seasons now we've seen their cars get more drag as the season goes on, and when in titles against Mercedes and Red Bull, they're a turtle down the straights. It's one of the factors leading to higher degradation, and leaves the drivers sitting ducks on the straights late in the race.

Can't win a championship with that problem, and it won't be easy to solve.

 

The level of resources and test/development facilities has a large effect on that for those “losing” British based teams. They are not in the same status of the top 3 or even Alpine. Aston may show results given the level of investment being applied. Will be interesting!

 

Mercedes showed how bad that affect can be this recent season.

 

Absolutely agree,Ducati is showing this with the right people.
All of them are Italians.
Problem is not nationality but competence.
And a real will to win..
The question mark is Vigna and Elkann really desire new WDC and WCC ?
The John Barnard episode was absolutely a non sense.
Projects 639-640 were great cars but exploiting a Formula One engineering team in a different country is an impossible task.

 

To be fair, even when the Old Man was around, Ferrari was always a shark infested pool for any employee. Basically a mess, but a glamorous one.

I wouldn't take the Team Principal job even if I were immensely qualified unless the entire team had the right people n key positions and I knew exec management would support me (in other words, I wouldn't take it). Will probably never see anything approaching the Schumacher-Todt-Brawn era again.....

 

The 'alignment of stars' for that was unique for Ferrari. The team is its own worst enemy. Entertaining but frustrating as well.

 

All to often SF reacts prematurely and throw out the baby with the bath water. Does anyone really know what progress was made this year to carry over for 2023.

What people seem to forget is the Red Bull / Merc involvement in other series racing and the huge aero data / engineering expertise etc etc they get from it, all outside the F! budget too!!!!!!!!!

Tony