Brundle questions decisions of Ferrari: 'It all looks a bit strange'

Martin Brundle questions whether Ferrari has the right plan now that Mattia Binotto has quit. The Sky Sports analyst was at an event for the Guild of Motoring Writers, where Autosport asked him about his take on the situation at Ferrari.

Binotto left as Ferrari team boss fairly soon after the end of the season. Rumours had been circulating for some time that the two sides would part ways. In the end, it was Binotto himself who tied the knot as he allegedly did not feel trusted by Ferrari's top management.

Ferrari's chances for next year will depend enormously on Binotto's successor, but above all on how quickly that person can step in and start shaping the team. By its own admission, Ferrari does not want to appoint a successor until the new year, but Brundle thinks that is an odd choice.

"They've lost their chief technical officer and their team principal, so unless they have got somebody very, very good to replace him straightaway, it all looks a little bit strange," the Sky Sports analyst explained. "You work there at Ferrari not just for a team but for a whole country."

Italian focus would get in the way of Ferrari

Ferrari has been trying to crawl back to the top for years but it has not won a title since 2008. According to Brundle, this is mainly to do with the approach Ferrari takes in shaping the team.

"They want someone who speaks Italian. And I think the problem is, if you look back at when they were last successful, they had a Frenchman in Jean Todt, a Brit in Ross Brawn, a South African with Rory Byrne and so on. Maybe that's what they need again, something like that: people who are not completely exposed to the daily Italian media."