Feb.13 (GMM) Former Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa have backed the Maranello team’s new boss.
After failing to win the 2018 title despite having a top car, Ferrari ousted its boss since 2014, Maurizio Arrivabene.
After a power struggle, his replacement is Mattia Binotto, the existing and continuing technical boss.
“Binotto is a very calm guy. He is one of the people who stays calm even under stress and absorbs the pressure at Ferrari much better than Arrivabene,” former Ferrari driver Massa is quoted by Auto Bild.
Alonso, Massa’s former teammate, agrees.
“Mattia has shown leadership when he was the technical boss,” he said. “He will do everything to make Ferrari stronger.”
It is interesting times at Ferrari.
Italy’s Automoto reports that FIA chief Jo Bauer had to be personally present for the crash test of the 2019 car, because of a radical new technical innovation.
Reportedly, that innovation is the existence for the first time of 3D-printed bodywork parts, with one source calling it a “technical revolution” as Ferrari would now be able to introduce new parts at the race track.
Another bit of news is that Ferrari has shaken up the engineers, with many of Kimi Raikkonen’s former team now joining Sebastian Vettel.
Jock Clear, meanwhile, moves from a more senior role to concentrate more exclusively on newcomer Charles Leclerc.
German Vettel, however, denied rumours that his own race engineer could also be defecting to Leclerc’s side of the garage.
“(Riccardo) Adami remains my race engineer,” he clarified.