“There is friction between Binotto and Resta at Ferrari” – Italian journo Alberto Sabbatini with news that all is not well at Ferrari F1 base Maranello.
Alberto Sabbatini, the editor-in-chief of Autosprint, has revealed that things are not great between Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto and Chassis Design head Simone Resta. He provided this insider info during a podcast with Italy-based Pit Talk.
“They say there is friction between Binotto and Resta.”
Ferrari is the most iconic team in the sport’s 70-year-old history, as well as the most successful one. But this season, they are massively struggled, having not won a single race yet. To make things worse for the Tifosi, Ferrari is 6th in the Constructor Standings, behind the likes of Racing Point, McLaren, and Renault. Yes, you read that right (if you had been living under a rock). And Alberto suggests the aforementioned conflict is the consequence of the poor season:
“We have seen the appearance of such cracks in the team several years ago, but the difference then was that it happened when everything was going well.”
Ferrari not using political weight to maximum capacity
Sabbatini also has a suggestion for the Ferrari management – appoint “an authoritative person from the outside”.
He also pointed out that Ferrari missed a trick by not using their political weight enough when dealing with the FIA. There’s also an indirect suggestion the current leadership is ‘weak’ compared to the likes of Jean Todt and Luca Montezemolo. This will be extremely interesting to watch out for, now that the prime leadership of both Formula One Management (FOM) and FIA has ex-Ferrari management greats.
“I do not understand why Ferrari did not use its political weight or any other weapon to deal with the situation and have the possibility to develop the engine. Todt or Montezemolo would never have allowed it, but rather would have used their charisma and political weight to recover part of the penalty they suffered.”
Read more: Who is Stefano Domenicali, the new CEO of Formula 1, and Ferrari F1 management great?
