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[NHcheese]

You know with Ferrari, I really want to like them, all the romance and history and gorgeous road cars. I would give....lots , for a yellow Ferrari.

Took my daughter for a drive in a yellow California around Maranello a bit over a month ago - she wants one too

Go on, buy her one!

....get a mclaren.....

Good looking car... But it just has to be a Ferrari

Oh yeh, you want a slow car.

[spankyham]

You know with Ferrari, I really want to like them, all the romance and history and gorgeous road cars. I would give....lots , for a yellow Ferrari.

Took my daughter for a drive in a yellow California around Maranello a bit over a month ago - she wants one too

Go on, buy her one!

....get a mclaren.....

Good looking car... But it just has to be a Ferrari

Oh yeh, you want a slow car.

I don't think either could be classified as slow

[CookinFlat6]

Not unless you live close to the Nurburgring and your buddies all have Nissan Gtrs and Porsche 918s

[sagi58]

Ain't no moss growing on this (steam-)rolling stone!!

Ferrari identify areas for change as F1 boss Mattiacci gathers steam

The reign of Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiacci is little more than 100 days old, but this week the first changes in his restructing of the team came to light.

Former Lotus technical director James Allison is in overall charge of the entire technical project, both chassis and engine.

Luca Marmorini paid the price for Ferrari’s costly underestimation of the scale of task and investment required to produce a class leading hybrid turbo engine. His role as head of the engine side goes to Mattia Binotto, who has been with the team for many years and was Michael Schumacher’s engine engineer during the glory years.

Mattiacci knows that he is not looking for quick fixes, but rather must put in place a plan to bring Ferrari closer to the front in 2015 and challenging again from 2016 onwards.

This is the first half season during Fernando Alonso’s five seasons there in which he has not won a single race and he has just two podiums to his name.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Mattiacci’s first 100 days of reviewing the state of the Scuderia has revealed the following key issues:

* The response times are too slow, from suppliers to internal processes, the team needs to move more quickly, to match its rivals.
* Inferior hybrid technology – Mercedes invested more and for far longer in the KERS and its successor systems. The factory at Brixworth is a centre of excellence within Mercedes, competing within the company for contracts on new electric and hybrid vehicles and that has hugely benefitted the F1 programme. Although Ferrari can develop its engine before the new homologation period starts in February 2015, catching up could take years.
* Too much emphasis on reliability at the expense of performance in the hybrid development phase. Alonso is the only driver to have scored points in every race this season, but he’s not been a real contender for victory.
* Lack of co-ordination between chassis and engine departments. This is a huge failure, given that the two departments are a few dozen metres apart, rather than in different locations and even countries in the case of Red Bull and its supplier Renault. Hence Allison’s over arching role.

There was no mention in Ferrari’s statement this week of Pat Fry, who was in charge technically until Allison’s arrival and who now has a senior engineering role, including operational activities at races. However he continues in his role...

[racechick]

He is doing a grand job!! That was an inspired move by Luca and m&m guy seems to know his stuff! F1 experienced he may not be, but identifying weaknesses and areas for developments he certainly seems on the ball with. What I particularly like about him is he's not all mouth and no trousers, he's the opposite. He doesn't shout his mouth off but he gets on with things.
Ferrari have a gem here. He inspires confidence .

[CookinFlat6]

Lets see how far he gets dismantling the family business values and creating a business meritocracy before the Tifosi turn on him for rampaging through old traditions

[Hammer278]

I miss Domenicalli.

[racechick]

He was sweet!

[LiamCatterson]

He was sweet!

Better than Mattiash*t...

I swear, at Silverstone like 2 year ago, Stefano would sign everyone's autographs at Silverstone and was a delightful and jolly chap...

But Marco? Lol...He would sign only a few then walk off...That guy puts the C in Crap...

[What's Burning?]

Mattiacci knows that he is not looking for quick fixes, but rather must put in place a plan to bring Ferrari closer to the front in 2015 and challenging again from 2016 onwards.

So the presentation they gave to Alonso and Kimi consisted of (and I'm paraphrasing) hey guys we need to suck it up, come a little closer next year and maybe we can look to challenge for a championship in 2016.

* The response times are too slow, from suppliers to internal processes, the team needs to move more quickly, to match its rivals.

A Ferrari issue through and through

* Inferior hybrid technology – Mercedes invested more and for far longer in the KERS and its successor systems. The factory at Brixworth is a centre of excellence within Mercedes, competing within the company for contracts on new electric and hybrid vehicles and that has hugely benefitted the F1 programme.

Another case of hindsight maybe? KERS and its replacement Mercedes I'm sure has had an advanatage but to say that they invested more and for far longer? Ferrari is never backing down from spending a dollar if it makes them go faster. The far longer part sounds like a scapegoat because all teams have had the same amount of time allotment allowed to develop this year's systems. Perhaps Ferrari pushed so long and hard to delay or reverse the engine shift that they found themselves in a predicament they themselves created? I know there's a consensus amongst plenty of fans that the hybrid technology is what's killing the sport... I say bullpoo. First, it's been around since 2009 now, and we are starting to see the future of super cars that not only are more efficient, but are more efficient while trouncing previous Nurburgring lap records.

* Too much emphasis on reliability at the expense of performance in the hybrid development phase. Alonso is the only driver to have scored points in every race this season, but he’s not been a real contender for victory.

Again, this is a Ferrari decision, not anything mandated.

* Lack of co-ordination between chassis and engine departments. This is a huge failure, given that the two departments are a few dozen metres apart, rather than in different locations and even countries in the case of Red Bull and its supplier Renault. Hence Allison’s over arching role.

This one smarts, because they took a clear advantage and somehow squandered it, where Renault with their disconnect with teams is starting to gain a clear number two engine performance slot. But this is something that we've been talking a lot for a long time, that would be a clear advantage for Mercedes and Ferrari, but the Scuderia somehow blew it? This is not an FiA issue, or a Bernie issue or a catering to Renault and Mercedes issue, this is Ferrari blowing an opportunity.

So in conclusion, I believe Mattiacci seems to have recognized and identified the things that are/were wrong and is moving forward to fixing them, acknowledging that it's not short term.

If a guy on a forum had said something along those lines he'd be burned at the stake for heresy. I like this guy, taking the challenge head on.

[Jabberwocky]

Sometimes in F1 Team members see the problems but can not admit to them for fear or not being secure enough in the job to fix it. M&M sound like he is secure and in this for the long haul. This is good.

Sent using NCC-1701

[sagi58]

Mattiacci's synopsis of the challenges Ferrari is facing comes after careful analysis and being on the front lines.
He doesn't seem to be the type to say "Don't worry!", rather, he pulled up his sleeves and got his hands dirty.

I doubt he'll be burnt at the stake for blasphemy by Ferrari fans.

[CookinFlat6]

Whats likely to happen is after a year of rebuilding and getting closer to a strong position, the fans will be restless (those that know more about the passion than the technology) and will want to see races where the team they have been cheering for (and buying all those expensive hats, glasses, scarves, make up, face paint, flags) win on track. Alonso may or may not still be there and the fans will want another hero to worship.

So there will be mutterings and anxiousness, and this will be noted by the FIAT honchos. This will give a minor player, such as a family member with a stake in Fiat or Ferrari to rally some support behind the scenes for an attempted heist or coup. It could be someone overlooked previously or someone with an external agenda that works better if he has change in the team, say his own guy or he might fancy having a go himself. Could be someone with designs on muscling in on the Agnelli family, could be a politician who has some sway.

Anyway a year of building will become easy prey for this person who sees the gap left by Luca who has lost more power than he expected to the diligent Mattriachy and the meaning of long term will be swamped by a passionate call to the faithful on the boards of both companies, and before you know it, its all change, with heads rolling and the continued years of failure blamed on Luca and his yes men (or mercenaries, or business managers) and the new regime are promising to return ferrari to the passion and family values that served them so well in the heyday ( a few years when Enzo was around, but hey, why complicate a good story)

And how can anyone sit here and make such sweeping statements and assumptions?

Because we have seen it over and over, and unless the new guy is as effective as Todt/Brynne and Brawn and in less than the 5 years it took them to turn it around, he wont have a chance, why?, look what happened to Todt, brawn etc, survived a few coups and pressures by being foreigners outside the family passion and forced Ferrari to soccess....only to be dumped after successs by another clearout and takeover - this time to restore Ferrari to Italian homegrown staff, Aldo was promoted, then he had to go at the next clearout and coup - when they decided to hire foreigners again - from other teams

Good luck to Ferrari this time round, but ultimately its the impatient Tifosi who will provide the ammo for a bit player who fancies himself and has the right connections in the family or board

[sagi58]

I knew this sage piece of advice would come in handy :

...you could consider the post more before you retort, just to avoid unintentionally irritating the others

...and, I would add, especially in a support thread, regardless of whom/what the subject may be!

[spankyham]

Good article sagi, enjoyed the read. Early days yet but I like what I've seen so far from Marco.