Tough times at Ferrari’s Formula 1 team: After a disastrous season that found Scuderia Ferrari nearly 500 points behind number-one constructor Mercedes, heads continue to roll. The team just announced that F1 boss Marco Mattiacci is out, replaced by Marlboro senior executive Maurizio Arrivabene.
Arrivabene comes to Ferrari after 17 years at Philip Morris, where he most recently served as Vice President of Consumer Channel Strategy and Event Marketing. He’s been deeply involved in Marlboro’s sponsorship agreement with Ferrari’s F1 team, and has represented sponsors across the sport on the F1 commission since 2010
"We decided to appoint Maurizio Arrivabene because, at this historic moment in time for the Scuderia and for Formula 1, we need a person with a thorough understanding not just of Ferrari but also of the governance mechanisms and requirements of the sport," said Sergio Marchionne, Ferrari’s interim Chairman. “His managerial experience on a highly complex and closely regulated market is also of great importance, and will help him manage and motivate the team.”
"We decided to appoint Maurizio Arrivabene because, at this historic moment in time for the Scuderia and for Formula 1, we need a person with a thorough understanding not just of Ferrari but also of the governance mechanisms and requirements of the sport," said Sergio Marchionne, Ferrari’s interim Chairman. “His managerial experience on a highly complex and closely regulated market is also of great importance, and will help him manage and motivate the team.”
Arrivabene swiftly replaces Marco Mattiacci, who hardly had time to settle in, having taken over as team principal in April of this year. Mattiacci replaced Stefano Domenicali, who stepped down after four seasons of sagging performance.
But Mattiacci took the helm when Scuderia Ferrari was on some particularly rough waters. Not long after Mattiacci was appointed team principal, Ferrari’s 23-year CEO Luca Cordero di Montezemolo tendered a blistering resignation, saying “Ferrari is now American,” and calling it “the end of an era.” Montezemolo may have seen the writing on the wall, with Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne stating flatly that Ferrari’s F1 performance was unacceptable and that nobody was indispensible.
Mattiacci seems to have done some shaking up of his own, though: Fernando Alonso, headed out Ferrari’s door for a likely spot with McLaren, is furious at how Mattiacci questioned the Spaniard’s commitment to the team. “He’s been here a few months,” Alonso said, “not the five years in which I fought in every single race.”
So: Ferrari’s got a new team principal in Maurizio Arrivabene, and a new driver with Sebastian Vettel incoming from Red Bull. We’ll have to wait until 2015 to see how all this horse-trading pays off in racing.
