- 06 Apr 15, 14:33#436091
After the agony of defeat, success will be sweet!
KBBLACKSMITH provided the article post on 
that Dieter Rencken wrote:">The man in Formula1's hottest seat
Despite a dismal 2014 Formula 1 season that featured more team principals than podiums, the Prancing Horse started 2015 with a spring in its step. Then Sebastian Vettel won in Malaysia. DIETER RENCKEN sat down with the man at the helm, Maurizio Arrivabene
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has been a Formula 1 fan for as long as he can remember - certainly longer than those early memories when he hung about Monza's general admission areas, praying for cut-rate glimpses of his beloved red cars.
Indeed, he regularly (and proudly) refers to himself as having at one time been a 'tifosi', the collective name given to those fans so obsessed with the Cavalino Rampante and Maranello's performances that they are said to have fallen under the spell of a particularly rabid form of typhoid.
From 1984 the Scuderia's cars were bedecked with Marlboro branding, admittedly only by way of driver name associations during the early days of the partnership, when the bulk of the cigarette company's Formula 1 team spend flowed towards McLaren. But all that changed for 1997, when 'Mr Marlboro' John Hogan chose to switch the brand's full financial support to Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.
It can be no coincidence that inveterate smoker Arrivabene, by then a seasoned marketing and sales professional, that year joined Marlboro's parent company Philip Morris International - initially to oversee the Ferrari programme.
He rose through PMI's ranks to become VP of Marlboro Global Communication and Promotions a decade later, and VP of Consumer Channel Strategy and Event Marketing four years on.
In these capacities he worked closely with PMI board member Sergio Marchionne (plus John Elkann, scion of the Agnelli family that controls Ferrari's holding company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), and, when Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne sought to make swinging changes at Maranello - driven by his ambitions to unlock crucial funding via a Ferrari listing - Arrivabene was appointed to the Scuderia's most high-profile position.
The Brescia-born 58-year-old is, though, no newcomer to F1 politics, having served on the Formula 1 Commission as sponsor representative since 2010, and anyone who attended the last three or four of Marlboro's then-annual Wrooom motorsport ski camp in the Dolomites can be under no illusions about the closeness of the relationship between Arrivabene and F1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone, a regular attendee.
Still, it was somewhat of a shock when news filtered through during last year's season finale in Abu Dhabi that Arrivabene had been appointed to arguably the most challenging job in F1, one that had seen the likes of Stefano Domenicali and Marco Mattiacci (both Ferrari mainstays) wilt under the pressure of not winning, their situations compounded by Ferrari ceding its once-preeminent political status to Red Bull.
We met for an exclusive interview in Malaysia last Thursday, and clearly Maurizio was a man in demand even then, particularly after Sebastian Vettel's superb third place in the season opener. The talk in Melbourne was not only about Ferrari's new-found power - last year the three Maranello-powered teams were generally the worst in their respective 'leagues' - but the sympathies with which the red cars used their rubber.
Selling fags - to reduce Arrivabene's previous area of expertise to its most basic constituent part - is a world removed from the rough-and-tumble of Formula 1 team management. Particularly when the team in question is a Scuderia that had patently lost its way and forgotten the art of winning, be that on-track or in Strategy Group meetings.
Thus he is eager to make the point that his previous duties were management orientated, that life was not simply a big jolly, traipsing from Ferrari event to Ferrari event, then to F1 Commission meetings.
"First of all, I would like to say something about my experience, because most of the people, they know me about the marketing side, but actually at my old company 10 per cent of my job was represented by Formula 1. And in 90 per cent I was doing other things," Arrivabene makes clear.
It is not quite a rebuff - Maurizio is too diplomatic for that, as can be expected from an executive schooled in an industry under global siege - but it certainly sets the scene.
"Having [had] the luxury to work for a big corporation I was learning a lot in many, many areas," he continues.
"So that was a very, very good university. Concerning the second part of the question, it is related on the roles of Ferrari.
"I think the Concorde Agreement is signed and if a certain team, including Ferrari, has a certain agreement it is because I would like to see [the results] of a Formula 1 without Ferrari.
"In my opinion it is going to lose 60, 70 per cent of its value. I was in Melbourne, but in my experience when I was going to the races, especially out of Italy, I saw that 60 to 70 per cent of the flags were from Ferrari tifosi.
"So, I mean, this is the reason why Ferrari has a value that is not comparable to other teams."
Arrivabene makes absolutely no bones about the roles and vision of Marchionne, to whom he reports directly, in Ferrari's quest to regain the political high ground, at a time when Red Bull Racing is clearly under sporting, technical and political pressure.
"Considering the roles of Ferrari, I think most of the success in Ferrari regaining the central role in Formula 1 is due to the commitment of Mr Marchionne. This level of person, professionally and [as] president of Ferrari, he put himself in the first line, and the fact that he was participating in the Strategy Group and the Formula 1 Commission, shows full commitment.
"I think it's amazing, and that was the real contribution to regain for Ferrari the central position in Formula 1."
Like his predecessors (and Enzo Ferrari himself), Arrivabene is unwavering in his belief that Ferrariis F1.
Glancing across to a certain sliver-bedecked hospitality suite, one removed from the patio upon which we are sitting, he says: "I recognise we have [competitors] like Mercedes, and now they are leading the championship.
"Last year they got all my respect, but I think also that the title 'world championship' is not valuable without beating Ferrari..."
That said, would Ferrari ever consider leaving F1? After all, Old Man Enzo regularly threatened an exit when things did not go Ferrari's way.
In Melbourne, Red Bull's Helmut Marko made similar noises.
"No, I can't imagine Formula 1 without Ferrari," Arrivabene replies. "As I said to you, I would like to see how many people would be at the track without Ferrari being one of the competitors.
"I always said before that Ferrari is Formula 1. If some people forgot about this, it's better that they are going to refresh their minds..."
With F1 folk generally believing that only ex-drivers or former race mechanics are able to lead teams to victory from the front, how does Arrivabene's CV square with his stated task of winning first races, then championships? What is his management style?
"This is a good question," he smiles, "because it gives me the opportunity to talk about the role of what they call here the team principal, but at home it's general director or managing director or whatever it is.
"You don't need to be an engineer to do so. I saw in 25 years in Formula 1 many team principals that were not an engineer, and they were running the team and they were winning championships.
"I think the most important thing is to give direction to the people. And that direction is a kind of strategic view, to inject in their minds methodology, like project management and so on, taken from your experience, and let them work.
"I can't challenge, for example, [recently-appointed technical director] James Allison in his technical choice, but I can feel quite easily the technical.
"So if it's going to create a potential problem to the team, or if something is going wrong into the team, for me this work a real team principal has to do. There is work to do at home or to do at the track, but we don't have to mix it up with the technical knowledge.
"I mean, a general director of any company outside Formula 1 that is producing any kind of product, it doesn't mean to work in R&D or to be an engineer. You need to be, first of all, a manager."
As a marketing man, how does Arrivabene feel about the current state of Formula 1, which is arguably the least fan-driven it has been in its 65-year existence?
"I think it's not really good, but something in the future for sure is coming. I have to say a work in progress at the moment, and everybody, they are really committed. As a first we have to all do our best to make Formula 1 a bit more affordable."
True, but based on the (lamentable) show in Australiato many that "future" seems a long way off...
"Yes, it's a long way to go," he agrees, "but I'm not the one who's writing the rules of the game.
"Most of the time they are asking me or other team principals this kind of question, but most probably they need to ask to other players. I mean, we have the circuit organisers, the [FIA], we have Bernie, and so on.
"They represent the majority. So sometimes the teams or constructors, they are blamed for decisions taken by a majority of other people.
"Now the good thing is that everybody, they are working all together because suddenly they realised the show needs an improvement, otherwise we can find ourselves here around a table but in a different environment, not probably in Formula 1."
Having had four months to delve into Maranello's workings, what does he see as his biggest challenge?
"The biggest challenge is to make sure that everybody is going in the same direction, with a straightforward commitment, that they are honest, brave and transparent," Arrivabene says.
"On top of this, that they understand the value of working together, because I really don't trust a one-man show; it doesn't exist. Doing this job, you have to do many interviews but it's not you, actually, it's the overall team. This is the most important thing."
Ahh, the word "brave". An insider with many years' experience of working with Ferrari believes the team was cowered into losing by the previous regime, which punished the slightest errors with redeployment (or worse), making risks a no-no. Arrivabene, he says, actively encourages calculated risks, as was evident on Sunday...
Arrivabene's task is, though, aided in no small way by Marchionne's full support. Fiat's CEO thrives on corporate risk, and it is clear Arrivabene has total respect for the Italo-Canadian industry captain.
"I'm lucky enough to have the best boss and teacher that any kind of manager is dreaming to have," he says.
"That doesn't mean that he's the kind of person that lets you do things in any kind of way. But he's a very straightforward person, he's quite strong in certain decisions and he's got a strategic view that's unbelievable.
"So, before talking with him it's better to listen and to learn as much as you can, because I think having somebody like him as a boss it's a luxury. There is another part of his personality out of the business, when he's not focussed on the business, that I discovered and it impressed me a lot.
"He is a genuine Ferrari supporter, and for me it was a good surprise when he's talking about the team - you can feel the passion and the commitment. And this is coming out from his actions too."
One of Marchionne's first "actions" on appointing Arrivabene must have been setting objectives, not only for Ferrari's team principal, but the entire Sportiva Gestione. So, what are they?
"To win," is the simple response
By?
"As soon as possible." Ditto.
At the time we were speaking, Ferrari's last victory was scored almost two years previously, in Spain by the ever-opportunistic (and now departed) Fernando Alonso? Arrivabene was optimistic, but not talking like a man who expected that drought to end within days.
"I think this year. I know how but I don't know when we'll deserve [to].
"I think two races, we can possibly win two races this year.
"Next year it's another story, because I think next year we are looking for something more."
The championship?
"Why not?"
There the story would have ended, but for Sunday: Vettel scored a superb win via a superior (but riskier) two-stop strategy adopted by Ferrari versus the three-stopping Mercedes. Is Ferrari back on top on merit, Arrivabene was asked by this columnist post-race?
"I have to be realistic," the team principal said. "I said at the beginning of this season, 'two victories'? Now we won a race, one of two, and sometimes when victories, they come too early to be an advantage - a disadvantage. So we keep our feet on the ground. I think that Mercedes is super strong, so, no distraction, feet on the ground. And as I said many other times, we follow our programme.
"I have to say, some of your colleagues, they were asking me 'why were you not laughing, you don't show any emotion?' I told you: I was thinking about the briefing this morning [when the strategy was devised], I was looking at the data on the screen, I was going step-by-step. And as much as the race was going on, I was sure.
"This is the reason why I was concentrating, but then I got a big emotion, mainly for the guys, for the two drivers, for Seb - he was screaming into the headphones - but maybe for the guys in Maranello, because the last months they were working like hell. They made an unbelievable effort.
"This this is why I asked Diego Ioverno [chief track operations engineer] to go up there on the podium, because he was representing all the guys. That they are working, not only with a beautiful mind, but also with a dirty hand. Here I'm also proud to see them up there, because they're representing the passion and the heart of the Ferrari team."
Arrivabene clearly remains a tifosi at heart despite his massive responsibilities.
Despite a dismal 2014 Formula 1 season that featured more team principals than podiums, the Prancing Horse started 2015 with a spring in its step. Then Sebastian Vettel won in Malaysia. DIETER RENCKEN sat down with the man at the helm, Maurizio Arrivabene
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has been a Formula 1 fan for as long as he can remember - certainly longer than those early memories when he hung about Monza's general admission areas, praying for cut-rate glimpses of his beloved red cars.
Indeed, he regularly (and proudly) refers to himself as having at one time been a 'tifosi', the collective name given to those fans so obsessed with the Cavalino Rampante and Maranello's performances that they are said to have fallen under the spell of a particularly rabid form of typhoid.
From 1984 the Scuderia's cars were bedecked with Marlboro branding, admittedly only by way of driver name associations during the early days of the partnership, when the bulk of the cigarette company's Formula 1 team spend flowed towards McLaren. But all that changed for 1997, when 'Mr Marlboro' John Hogan chose to switch the brand's full financial support to Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.
It can be no coincidence that inveterate smoker Arrivabene, by then a seasoned marketing and sales professional, that year joined Marlboro's parent company Philip Morris International - initially to oversee the Ferrari programme.
He rose through PMI's ranks to become VP of Marlboro Global Communication and Promotions a decade later, and VP of Consumer Channel Strategy and Event Marketing four years on.
In these capacities he worked closely with PMI board member Sergio Marchionne (plus John Elkann, scion of the Agnelli family that controls Ferrari's holding company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), and, when Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne sought to make swinging changes at Maranello - driven by his ambitions to unlock crucial funding via a Ferrari listing - Arrivabene was appointed to the Scuderia's most high-profile position.
The Brescia-born 58-year-old is, though, no newcomer to F1 politics, having served on the Formula 1 Commission as sponsor representative since 2010, and anyone who attended the last three or four of Marlboro's then-annual Wrooom motorsport ski camp in the Dolomites can be under no illusions about the closeness of the relationship between Arrivabene and F1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone, a regular attendee.
Still, it was somewhat of a shock when news filtered through during last year's season finale in Abu Dhabi that Arrivabene had been appointed to arguably the most challenging job in F1, one that had seen the likes of Stefano Domenicali and Marco Mattiacci (both Ferrari mainstays) wilt under the pressure of not winning, their situations compounded by Ferrari ceding its once-preeminent political status to Red Bull.
We met for an exclusive interview in Malaysia last Thursday, and clearly Maurizio was a man in demand even then, particularly after Sebastian Vettel's superb third place in the season opener. The talk in Melbourne was not only about Ferrari's new-found power - last year the three Maranello-powered teams were generally the worst in their respective 'leagues' - but the sympathies with which the red cars used their rubber.
Selling fags - to reduce Arrivabene's previous area of expertise to its most basic constituent part - is a world removed from the rough-and-tumble of Formula 1 team management. Particularly when the team in question is a Scuderia that had patently lost its way and forgotten the art of winning, be that on-track or in Strategy Group meetings.
Thus he is eager to make the point that his previous duties were management orientated, that life was not simply a big jolly, traipsing from Ferrari event to Ferrari event, then to F1 Commission meetings.
"First of all, I would like to say something about my experience, because most of the people, they know me about the marketing side, but actually at my old company 10 per cent of my job was represented by Formula 1. And in 90 per cent I was doing other things," Arrivabene makes clear.
It is not quite a rebuff - Maurizio is too diplomatic for that, as can be expected from an executive schooled in an industry under global siege - but it certainly sets the scene.
"Having [had] the luxury to work for a big corporation I was learning a lot in many, many areas," he continues.
"So that was a very, very good university. Concerning the second part of the question, it is related on the roles of Ferrari.
"I think the Concorde Agreement is signed and if a certain team, including Ferrari, has a certain agreement it is because I would like to see [the results] of a Formula 1 without Ferrari.
"In my opinion it is going to lose 60, 70 per cent of its value. I was in Melbourne, but in my experience when I was going to the races, especially out of Italy, I saw that 60 to 70 per cent of the flags were from Ferrari tifosi.
"So, I mean, this is the reason why Ferrari has a value that is not comparable to other teams."
Arrivabene makes absolutely no bones about the roles and vision of Marchionne, to whom he reports directly, in Ferrari's quest to regain the political high ground, at a time when Red Bull Racing is clearly under sporting, technical and political pressure.
"Considering the roles of Ferrari, I think most of the success in Ferrari regaining the central role in Formula 1 is due to the commitment of Mr Marchionne. This level of person, professionally and [as] president of Ferrari, he put himself in the first line, and the fact that he was participating in the Strategy Group and the Formula 1 Commission, shows full commitment.
"I think it's amazing, and that was the real contribution to regain for Ferrari the central position in Formula 1."
Like his predecessors (and Enzo Ferrari himself), Arrivabene is unwavering in his belief that Ferrariis F1.
Glancing across to a certain sliver-bedecked hospitality suite, one removed from the patio upon which we are sitting, he says: "I recognise we have [competitors] like Mercedes, and now they are leading the championship.
"Last year they got all my respect, but I think also that the title 'world championship' is not valuable without beating Ferrari..."
That said, would Ferrari ever consider leaving F1? After all, Old Man Enzo regularly threatened an exit when things did not go Ferrari's way.
In Melbourne, Red Bull's Helmut Marko made similar noises.
"No, I can't imagine Formula 1 without Ferrari," Arrivabene replies. "As I said to you, I would like to see how many people would be at the track without Ferrari being one of the competitors.
"I always said before that Ferrari is Formula 1. If some people forgot about this, it's better that they are going to refresh their minds..."
With F1 folk generally believing that only ex-drivers or former race mechanics are able to lead teams to victory from the front, how does Arrivabene's CV square with his stated task of winning first races, then championships? What is his management style?
"This is a good question," he smiles, "because it gives me the opportunity to talk about the role of what they call here the team principal, but at home it's general director or managing director or whatever it is.
"You don't need to be an engineer to do so. I saw in 25 years in Formula 1 many team principals that were not an engineer, and they were running the team and they were winning championships.
"I think the most important thing is to give direction to the people. And that direction is a kind of strategic view, to inject in their minds methodology, like project management and so on, taken from your experience, and let them work.
"I can't challenge, for example, [recently-appointed technical director] James Allison in his technical choice, but I can feel quite easily the technical.
"So if it's going to create a potential problem to the team, or if something is going wrong into the team, for me this work a real team principal has to do. There is work to do at home or to do at the track, but we don't have to mix it up with the technical knowledge.
"I mean, a general director of any company outside Formula 1 that is producing any kind of product, it doesn't mean to work in R&D or to be an engineer. You need to be, first of all, a manager."
As a marketing man, how does Arrivabene feel about the current state of Formula 1, which is arguably the least fan-driven it has been in its 65-year existence?
"I think it's not really good, but something in the future for sure is coming. I have to say a work in progress at the moment, and everybody, they are really committed. As a first we have to all do our best to make Formula 1 a bit more affordable."
True, but based on the (lamentable) show in Australiato many that "future" seems a long way off...
"Yes, it's a long way to go," he agrees, "but I'm not the one who's writing the rules of the game.
"Most of the time they are asking me or other team principals this kind of question, but most probably they need to ask to other players. I mean, we have the circuit organisers, the [FIA], we have Bernie, and so on.
"They represent the majority. So sometimes the teams or constructors, they are blamed for decisions taken by a majority of other people.
"Now the good thing is that everybody, they are working all together because suddenly they realised the show needs an improvement, otherwise we can find ourselves here around a table but in a different environment, not probably in Formula 1."
Having had four months to delve into Maranello's workings, what does he see as his biggest challenge?
"The biggest challenge is to make sure that everybody is going in the same direction, with a straightforward commitment, that they are honest, brave and transparent," Arrivabene says.
"On top of this, that they understand the value of working together, because I really don't trust a one-man show; it doesn't exist. Doing this job, you have to do many interviews but it's not you, actually, it's the overall team. This is the most important thing."
Ahh, the word "brave". An insider with many years' experience of working with Ferrari believes the team was cowered into losing by the previous regime, which punished the slightest errors with redeployment (or worse), making risks a no-no. Arrivabene, he says, actively encourages calculated risks, as was evident on Sunday...
Arrivabene's task is, though, aided in no small way by Marchionne's full support. Fiat's CEO thrives on corporate risk, and it is clear Arrivabene has total respect for the Italo-Canadian industry captain.
"I'm lucky enough to have the best boss and teacher that any kind of manager is dreaming to have," he says.
"That doesn't mean that he's the kind of person that lets you do things in any kind of way. But he's a very straightforward person, he's quite strong in certain decisions and he's got a strategic view that's unbelievable.
"So, before talking with him it's better to listen and to learn as much as you can, because I think having somebody like him as a boss it's a luxury. There is another part of his personality out of the business, when he's not focussed on the business, that I discovered and it impressed me a lot.
"He is a genuine Ferrari supporter, and for me it was a good surprise when he's talking about the team - you can feel the passion and the commitment. And this is coming out from his actions too."
One of Marchionne's first "actions" on appointing Arrivabene must have been setting objectives, not only for Ferrari's team principal, but the entire Sportiva Gestione. So, what are they?
"To win," is the simple response
By?
"As soon as possible." Ditto.
At the time we were speaking, Ferrari's last victory was scored almost two years previously, in Spain by the ever-opportunistic (and now departed) Fernando Alonso? Arrivabene was optimistic, but not talking like a man who expected that drought to end within days.
"I think this year. I know how but I don't know when we'll deserve [to].
"I think two races, we can possibly win two races this year.
"Next year it's another story, because I think next year we are looking for something more."
The championship?
"Why not?"
There the story would have ended, but for Sunday: Vettel scored a superb win via a superior (but riskier) two-stop strategy adopted by Ferrari versus the three-stopping Mercedes. Is Ferrari back on top on merit, Arrivabene was asked by this columnist post-race?
"I have to be realistic," the team principal said. "I said at the beginning of this season, 'two victories'? Now we won a race, one of two, and sometimes when victories, they come too early to be an advantage - a disadvantage. So we keep our feet on the ground. I think that Mercedes is super strong, so, no distraction, feet on the ground. And as I said many other times, we follow our programme.
"I have to say, some of your colleagues, they were asking me 'why were you not laughing, you don't show any emotion?' I told you: I was thinking about the briefing this morning [when the strategy was devised], I was looking at the data on the screen, I was going step-by-step. And as much as the race was going on, I was sure.
"This is the reason why I was concentrating, but then I got a big emotion, mainly for the guys, for the two drivers, for Seb - he was screaming into the headphones - but maybe for the guys in Maranello, because the last months they were working like hell. They made an unbelievable effort.
"This this is why I asked Diego Ioverno [chief track operations engineer] to go up there on the podium, because he was representing all the guys. That they are working, not only with a beautiful mind, but also with a dirty hand. Here I'm also proud to see them up there, because they're representing the passion and the heart of the Ferrari team."
Arrivabene clearly remains a tifosi at heart despite his massive responsibilities.
After the agony of defeat, success will be sweet!