Luca Di Montezemolo now gives up Ferrari & F1 'top dog' spot

[John S]

Reckon he pulled Monza announcement due to leak. 

Marchionne will replace him in time for the pending Fiat-Chrysler group floatation on Wall Street.

It's looking likely that a succession plan was in place, but Luca failing to announce it at Monza threw a spanner in the works, leading to Marchionne's outburst after Monza.       
............... He thought Luca was reneging on the deal. 

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/9463178/Di-Montezemolo-confirms-Ferrari-exit

[cosworth151]

That frees Luca up to move into Italian politics. Maybe he didn't want to be seen as running out on Ferrari. He may be banking on the probability that there won't be a sudden upturn in fortune at the Scuderia. That will allow him to say, "See, I wasn't at fault."

[Scott]

There are just WAY too many Italians who have last names starting with an 'M' at Ferrari at the moment. 

The only bad 2 bad things I see about this at the moment is that that Mattiacci was hired into Ferrari by Luca, and promoted to team principal by Luca, so I suspect this will leave him without an ally, and certainly the first head on the chopping block when they don't win every race next season. 

The other, which Cos alluded to, is that Luca is now free to go into Italian politics 

[Monty]

I still think giving Mattiacci the job was a mistake. He may be a brilliant Manager but it will take him too long to 'learn' F1 to be effective quickly enough. And is it me or is he aging really quickly since he got the job?

Luca is now free to go into Italian politics

If he starts dying and greasing his hair we will have a good idea of his intentions. If he starts hanging around with 15year old girls we will know for sure 

[Scott]

My Dad, who was a very good manager in his time told me once that a good manager doesn't need to have a clue about the product the company sells.

[Jericoke]

My Dad, who was a very good manager in his time told me once that a good manager doesn't need to have a clue about the product the company sells.

The truism has it's limits though.  Managing sales staff is different from managing technical staff or creative staff.  I'm sure the CEOs of any fortune 500 company would find themselves equally successful if they swapped companies.  However, I doubt that a 5 star general could take command of a small advertizing company.

A Formula One team is a very unique entity.  Most sports teams focus on their athletes.  Most engineering firms focus on their engineers (or their sales).  F1 is the rare sport where the athletes, the engineers and sales force are equally vital to success.  Being the best at spinning any one of those plates is no guarantee to be able to keep all three spinning.

Quite frankly, the man that's been best at this plate spinning act that I've seen is Flavio Briatore.  He squeezed every ounce of that team at Enstone.  (Continuing the metaphor, he squeezed too hard, and paid the price)

[Scott]

Flavio was probably the least prepared F1 Principal in F1 history, being a clothing company manager and on-the-run criminal, before tipped as Benetton F1 boss. 

But I do see your points Jeri.  Of course it is a bit simplistic to say that a good manager can manage anything.  However I do believe a good manager can learn quickly and adapt his/her management style to almost any product.  For example I see no reason why a hotel manager cannot manage an F1 team.   

[John S]

Flavio was probably the least prepared F1 Principal in F1 history, being a clothing company manager and on-the-run criminal, before tipped as Benetton F1 boss. 

I'd say that Flavio was ideally suited to being an F1 team principal, almost all the successful ones have been mavericks and/or dictators. Corporate governance doesn't seem to work well in F1 - even the reformed mavericks trying to be corporate animals seem to go off the boil.

Marchionne may well be the new top guy at Ferrari but I think he knows enough to stay at arms length from the day to day at the F1 team, just like Luca did in the last few years. 
Only Enzo had the nounce, and clout, to head up all areas at Maranello.       

[Jericoke]

Flavio was probably the least prepared F1 Principal in F1 history, being a clothing company manager and on-the-run criminal, before tipped as Benetton F1 boss. 

But I do see your points Jeri.  Of course it is a bit simplistic to say that a good manager can manage anything.  However I do believe a good manager can learn quickly and adapt his/her management style to almost any product.  For example I see no reason why a hotel manager cannot manage an F1 team.   

A hotel manager would certainly be better suited than a ski instructor would. 

It is genuinely tough to know who would make a good F1 manager.  There are so many things at play, so many things that are out of a manager's control that luck plays a huge role.  Where's Christian Horner if Mateschitz doesn't promise Newey everything he wants?  Where's Ross Brawn if Honda continues to pour corporate backing into a losing team?

[Irisado]

I can't decide what I think about this.  To my mind, it's just like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic and hoping for a different outcome.  Ferrari needs to get its Formula 1 race team in order, rather than having a falling out between the ex-chairman and the new chairman.

[Jericoke]

I can't decide what I think about this.  To my mind, it's just like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic and hoping for a different outcome.  Ferrari needs to get its Formula 1 race team in order, rather than having a falling out between the ex-chairman and the new chairman.

The thing is with an F1 team, a few little things going wrong is the difference between dominating the season and scraping to get by.  How often have we seen winning teams come back next season, with the same personnel, and just stink it up?

It's easy to say that Ferrari needs a shake up, but maybe all they need is a little tweak.  That's where the experienced manager excels:  making sure they only fix what needs fixing.

[lkjohnson1950]

The designer/engineer responsible for the engine package says Ferrari knowingly sacrificed some power to get a more compact package. It seems pretty obvious they gave up too much. The Ferrari may be the weakest of the three engines.

[Jericoke]

The designer/engineer responsible for the engine package says Ferrari knowingly sacrificed some power to get a more compact package. It seems pretty obvious they gave up too much. The Ferrari may be the weakest of the three engines.

That doesn't mean the entire team needs to be rebuilt though.  It just means that Ferrari got screwed by the FIA (who ever thought that would happen?) and needs to fix it when they're allowed.

[lkjohnson1950]

True. I just meant this year's car doesn't seem too bad, but they are definitely down on power.

[John S]

The designer/engineer responsible for the engine package says Ferrari knowingly sacrificed some power to get a more compact package.

Surely that's the conundrum all of the engine makers and top teams faced?   

It's no good just pointing fingers, I'm sure anyone in a team can do that, it's knowing how to go about fixing problems that come up that marks out the really good guys -or gals of course.

Red Bull found themselves in a far worse mess than Ferrari early in the season, sure the finger pointing began, but then followed definite action and it certainly seems to have made a difference.

This time though I don't think it's Newey who has delivered for RBR, in fact I think he caused some of the problems in the first place - a la Ferrari - with his insistence on ultra tight aero packaging.

Seems when there is a really big shift in the regs those who are able to grasp all sides of the picture do better, it appears King Aero may not be all powerful after all.