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I think it's the wrong decision to pick Binotto

"I think it's the wrong decision" to pick Binotto

11-01-2019 16:39
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

Former Jordan technical director Gary Anderson thinks Ferrari have picked the wrong man for the position of team principal, as the Maranello-based team picked Mattia Binotto to take over proceedings for the upcoming season.

Maurizio Arrivabene was the man calling the shots in the F1 team from late 2014 up until and including the 2018 season. The team came close last year but never won either championship, making it over a decade now since the prancing horse won any silverware.

Binotto rose through the ranks at Ferrari, starting his career there in 1995 and taking over the engine development department in 2014, the first year of the V6 turbo-hybrid era. At the start of this era, Ferrari were miles behind rivals Mercedes, with the Silver Arrows cruising to title after title. Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne overhauled the team mid-2016, appointing Binotto as the technical chief of the team. Since then, the gap with Mercedes has been closed, with Ferrari even having the quicker package throughout large chunks of 2018.

So, it seems logical to make Binotto the team principal then, right? According to Anderson, no.

"Binotto is someone who has been very good at being a technical manager," Anderson said on the Autosport Podcast.

"You've got to allow him to be a technical manager. That is a full-time job, seven days a week. It's not a part-time thing. That is going to dilute their technical effort for sure.

"I think it's the wrong decision. They should have brought someone else in."

Despite Binotto being key in what has been Ferrari's best season since their title-winning season in 2007, Anderson argues he still isn't the man for the job, as politics aren't the strong suit of a technician.

"I don't really see why you would take your best technical person…and put him in a management, political position which is not his forte. Why would you do that?"

"What happens at the end of 2019 if Red Bull steps between them and suddenly Ferrari are third or fourth in the championship? It could happen. [Then] his head's gonna roll.

"They might lose a very good asset because they put him in a position he shouldn't be in."

Like Charles Leclerc's signing, Binotto's promotion seemingly was something the late Sergio Marchionne pushed for before his sudden passing in July. He got his wish, but will it pan out for them?