'Newcomers and organisational changes' - changes on the pitwall!

[Suzie]

http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formula1/News/Headlines/Pages/110104_newcomers_and_organisational_changes.aspx


Maranello, 4th January – It had been hinted at prior to Christmas when, speaking to Italian and international journalists during seasonal festivities, Luca di Montezemolo and Stefano Domenicali talked of not taking any drastic action, but rather making changes aimed at improving the efficiency of the team in its work, both at the track and the factory. Today came the facts.

Joining the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro is the respected engineer, Neil Martin, who takes on the role of heading up the new Operations Research department. A 38 year old Englishman, Martin previously worked for Red Bull and prior to that McLaren and he will now report directly to Technical Director, Aldo Costa.

At the same time, Costa’s deputy, Pat Fry will, in addition to his current role, take on the job of head of race track engineering. Up until yesterday, this position was held by Chris Dyer and his role within the company will be redefined in the next few days.

Feel very sorry for Chris - first Baldo and now him. Seems like that role isn't the best one to have.
Obviously I'm pleased a certain Northern race engineer isn't being moved!

[shostak]

Great news.

Welcome Mr. Martin

http://cdn.motorfull.com/files/2010/09/neil-martin-red-bull.jpg

[Tifoso]

OK, if we win.

[shostak]

There are rumours Dyer was fired, but he will have an honorable exit.

[Tifoso]

There are rumours Dyer was fired, but he will have an honorable exit.

Classy move by Ferrari, if true.

[Ste]

F1 Fanatic says Chris' next role is being decided, not that he's been fired. Would be unlikely.

[Suzie]

Maybe he will be put into a testing/development role, like Luca B was.
I know that Ferrari maybe need to make changes but it's a shame given what Chris did with Michael and Kimi.

[Greig]

Obviously he did do it on purpose afterall :-D

[REDARMYSOJA]

Obviously he did do it on purpose afterall :-D

:lol:lol:lol

[TheProdigalSon]

Even before Abu Dhabi the technical side of Ferrari was there weak point. I remember James Allen saying before the start of the season that he questioned it but I chose to ignore that thinking it was not such a big issue. But there's been some times where I have been left puzzled like in Spa when they pitted Alonso after Rubens speared into him or Malaysia qualifying. These changes seem right to me and leave me feeling the matter has finally been dealt with and now we can go into 2011 season even more confident of success. I really feel we will make a huge comeback this year.. I hope I'm right.

[Greig]

Did Alonso not just come right into the pits when Rubens hit him? anyway I guess he was in to make sure there was no suspension damage that could kill him round such a track, not much of a mistake :-) Malaysia was a joint decision Alonso himself agreed to sit and wait :-)

[TheProdigalSon]

Did Alonso not just come right into the pits when Rubens hit him? anyway I guess he was in to make sure there was no suspension damage that could kill him round such a track, not much of a mistake :-) Malaysia was a joint decision Alonso himself agreed to sit and wait :-)

If they were just checking for suspension damage then that's all they should have done :-)

[TheProdigalSon]

Malaysia was a joint decision Alonso himself agreed to sit and wait :-)

The team should have stepped in, they have all the telemetry and can make a better decision. I'm not getting in a finger pointing match of who's fault it was I'm just saying with a stronger technical group some of these things can be avoided in the future.

[Greig]

If they were just checking for suspension damage then that's all they should have done :-)

Why? inters were the right choice when he pitted

[Greig]

The team should have stepped in, they have all the telemetry and can make a better decision. I'm not getting in a finger pointing match of who's fault it was I'm just saying with a stronger technical group some of these things can be avoided in the future.

Alonso is part of that team :-)

[TheProdigalSon]

Why? inters were the right choice when he pitted

They were not that right choice because he went back in to change them again didn't he? The rain reports were for short bursts of light rain only lasting a short time. Everyone makes mistakes even Ferrari, for goodness sake do you have to carry on acting like Ferrari can do no wrong.

[Tifoso]

Why? inters were the right choice when he pitted

I beg to differ. Inter is never the right choice. :lou

[TheProdigalSon]

Alonso is part of that team :-)

http://files.sharenator.com/I_see_what_you_did_there_cat_RE_More_funnies_for_y ou_all-s480x360-106842.jpg

[Greig]

They were not that right choice because he went back in to change them again didn't he? The rain reports were for short bursts of light rain only lasting a short time. Everyone makes mistakes even Ferrari, for goodness sake do you have to carry on acting like Ferrari can do no wrong.

They expected more rain they went to inters as did others, the rain never came to much so they had to pit again, if was a decision that could easily have given him a great boost up the order had the rain continued as they expected, hindsight is a wonderful thing to say they got it wrong, when it could easily have been a brilliant decision, such is the sport.

I never pretend Ferrari do no wrong, anyway had Alonso not binned it then the pitstop would not have mattered, right....

[TheProdigalSon]

I never pretend Ferrari do no wrong, anyway had Alonso not binned it then the pitstop would not have mattered, right....

If you want to get like that maybe you should ask yourself if Alonso would have binned it if Ferrari didn't pit him twice.

[Greig]

If you want to get like that maybe you should ask yourself if Alonso would have binned it if Ferrari didn't pit him twice.

I asked myself, and the answer was yes most probably he would have as the pitstops did nothing to make him crash, unless you are suggesting he was not focused on his job?

[Grillo]

Changes and newcomers are welcome. The big bosses didn't do it in the heat of the moment, it's a very carefully planned reorganisation and it will make the team stronger. I looking forward to seeing the new team and car at the end of January. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy!!!!




:ferrarifl:ferrarifl:ferrarifl:ferrarifl
:ferrarifl:pass:ferrarifl:pass:ferrarifl
:ferrarifl:ferrarifl:ferrarifl:ferrarifl

[Greig]

Luca B was shuffled out in the heat of the moment, change does not mean better :-)

[TheProdigalSon]

@ Greig Oh really (nice to see what you really think of Alonso's driving) have you got evidence to prove that he would have? Crystal ball? All I'm saying is he was probably taking more risks on the circuit to make up for a double pit-stop. Would you say that's fair or is that too pro-Alonso and anti-Ferrari for you?

[burak karakutuk]

"F1 Fanatic says Chris' next role is being decided, not that he's been fired. Would be unlikely."
Yes i agree with Ste.It does not mean that he is fired.Just position changing.So we do not trust rumours so much until they become true.It's written end of the article the company will be redefined in the next few days.One more thing i want to say Chris is a big engineer that he had a lot of victories and titles with Ferrari.He was the man who did some of the winning strategies for Schumi,Kimi and Alonso.But all we say is black because Ferrari made their choice and we must hope they are true.I wonder Pat Fry and Neil Martin's effect to the team.

[TheProdigalSon]

Changes and newcomers are welcome. The big bosses didn't do it in the heat of the moment, it's a very carefully planned reorganisation and it will make the team stronger. I looking forward to seeing the new team and car at the end of January. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy!!!!




:ferrarifl:ferrarifl:ferrarifl:ferrarifl
:ferrarifl:pass:ferrarifl:pass:ferrarifl
:ferrarifl:ferrarifl:ferrarifl:ferrarifl

Agreed I think these changes can only mean good things. Ferrari have done the right thing and the results will show this year.

[Grillo]

Luca B was shuffled out in the heat of the moment, change does not mean better :-)
It happened in 2009 and the circumstances were different. I know change does not mean better but sometimes it makes you improve.

I have a good feeling, 2011 will be a dream season for Ferrari. :pray

[racingbradley]

Luca B was shuffled out in the heat of the moment, change does not mean better :-)
Hmmm I agree but of course hope this one will work. :thumb Hope Chris has at least been moved sideways and he will be happy in his new position. I hope he was not "made" a scapegoat for Abu Dhabi. :-)

[Greig]

@ Greig Oh really (nice to see what you really think of Alonso's driving) have you got evidence to prove that he would have? Crystal ball? All I'm saying is he was probably taking more risks on the circuit to make up for a double pit-stop. Would you say that's fair or is that too pro-Alonso and anti-Ferrari for you?

What I think of Alonso's driving? I have said he is the best on the grid since about 2004, but don't let that get in the way of your fanboyism :-) I don't need a crystal ball to analyse the past, you are the one saying the pitwall should have a crystal ball to know the rain coming down was going to stop.....I don't think he was taking any extra risks to make up for anything really, he was lapping pretty safe times when he went a little wide.

[TheProdigalSon]

Anaylise the past? Well firstly it's not the past because it didn't happen. Secondaly if you called that fanboyism maybe you should look up the term and then look at yourself.

[Soujin]

I was very sad to hear this news.......

[Greig]

Anaylise the past? Well firstly it's not the past because it didn't happen. Secondaly if you called that fanboyism maybe you should look up the term and then look at yourself.

What never happened? You say I never think Ferrari do anything wrong, yet you try and put Alonso crashing down to the team's fault for making him stop twice.....

[Grillo]

Hope Chris has at least been moved sideways and he will be happy in his new position. I hope he was not "made" a scapegoat for Abu Dhabi. :-)

I think Dyer can still be important in a different role at Ferrari if he wants to stay.

[Suzie]

Ferrari have done the right thing and the results will show this year.

No-one knows that - unless you're borrowing the crystal ball you say Greig has ;-)

I'm sure the same was said when Luca Baldisseri was re-shuffled out of the race team but yet here we are again. I hope Dyer hasn't been made the fall guy for the season's bad strategy decisions. I'm sure the blame rests on the shoulders of more than one person in the team, and that most definitely doesn't exclude the drivers...

[Ste]

No-one knows that - unless you're borrowing the crystal ball you say Greig has ;-)

I'm sure the same was said when Luca Baldisseri was re-shuffled out of the race team but yet here we are again. I hope Dyer hasn't been made the fall guy for the season's bad strategy decisions. I'm sure the blame rests on the shoulders of more than one person in the team, and that most definitely doesn't exclude the drivers...

Ferrari don't blame individuals. They're a team.

Unless it's Rubens. :lol

[TheProdigalSon]

What never happened? You say I never think Ferrari do anything wrong, yet you try and put Alonso crashing down to the team's fault for making him stop twice.....

I'd prefer if you didn't try and put your words in my mouth. This is not really going anywhere nice so just agree to disagree!

[Suzie]

They're a team.

I know. Some don't seem to.

[TheProdigalSon]

No-one knows that - unless you're borrowing the crystal ball you say Greig has ;-)

I'm sure the same was said when Luca Baldisseri was re-shuffled out of the race team but yet here we are again. I hope Dyer hasn't been made the fall guy for the season's bad strategy decisions. I'm sure the blame rests on the shoulders of more than one person in the team, and that most definitely doesn't exclude the drivers...

Perhaps you should be in charge of reshuffles since you seem to think you know what your talking about.

[mandzipop]

What we don't know is whether Dyer was removed from his post by Ferrari, or whether he removed himself frm the post and resigned.

[Greig]

Perhaps you should be in charge of reshuffles since you seem to think you know what your talking about.

Good idea, Suzie for President :-)

[scuderiafan]

I hope ge goes back to being a race engineer to fernando with Andrea Stella. he is a loyal and title winning worker, so he deserves a second chance

[GrndLkNatv]

Bummed as well, Chris is a great guy and I hope he gets a good position where he is happy! He's just a class guy! Hopefully the team gets the benefit from these moves that they need to win.


http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formula1/News/Headlines/Pages/110104_newcomers_and_organisational_changes.aspx



Feel very sorry for Chris - first Baldo and now him. Seems like that role isn't the best one to have.
Obviously I'm pleased a certain Northern race engineer isn't being moved!

[Liscia]

I've always liked Chris Dyer and the team owes him a lot so I hope
the changes are amicable and that he's moved to where he can be
useful, effective and happy in his work.

[brembo man]

It's all because of Todt!

[Hornet]

What we don't know is whether Dyer was removed from his post by Ferrari, or whether he removed himself frm the post and resigned.

True. All we know is position shifted around, but we don't know the story behind it.

Best we can do is hope it works out for the best.

Its 2011 already, can't wait for the seaosn to start :-D

[RockyRaccoon]

Hopefully this is for the best, maybe it was planned when Pat Fry came in? I hope it isn't a knee jerk because of Abu Dhabi, teams make mistakes from time to time.

With regards to the debate over inters at Spa, it was my opinion at the time that they were the only option. He had been whacked by Rubens, was last by a long way and really needed a result. If the rain continued that decision would have catapulted him to the front, it was the perfect example of a situation that called for a gamble like going on inters. Abu Dhabi on the other hand was a perfect example of needing a fourth place result and needing to play conservatively and cover fourth, rather than covering the person in a net seventh! The thinking behind that decision still baffles me to this day.

[Rob]

sorry to hear about Chris, he a good man and has helped us with many WDC WCC. Shame that this happened. Good luck Pat and hope help us bring home the silver wear and Neil Martin, mclaren and RBR sure they both have bought some good ideas to the table and help with our 2011 car.

[Alessandra]

Last year we saw the beginnings, in many ways, of a new Ferrari team. There were mistakes in more than one quarter and as many said, we didn't lose the championship on the last race alone. With the benefit of hindsight I think it would have been more of a miracle had we won last year and it was a tremendous achievement to have come so very close.
I think we'll see this potentially great team moving forward in 2011 with greater trust and confidence in each other, based on the experiences of last year's learning curve.
Good luck to them all and I hope that Chris Dyer is still in there.

[Meiga]

I have stated here before that I am not particularly keen on Mr Turrini and his blog. But just by chance I came across the following paragraph in one of his entries, which is about an interview with Domenicalli, and which states something I have not seen reflected in other sites. He says that the Ferrari wall did not see Webber hitting the wall and damaging his tyres, hence when they saw him pitting they thought it a purely strategic call and reacted to that. The implication seems to be that, had they known the pit stop had been caused by an accident, they would have left Alonso out. Could somebody here confirm this point?
"Adesso, dai, non stiamo qui a fare il giochino dei se e dei ma. Ti semplifico il concetto. Noi, al muretto, non abbiamo visto che Webber aveva sbattuto! E’ nato tutto da lì. Vedendolo rientrare, abbiamo ragionato così: sta tentando di inventare qualcosa, per fregarci. E siamo andati nel pallone, nel modo che sai, che sapete…"

[Greig]

I am pretty sure I can remember team radio saying how Webber had hit the wall, and I am sure Alonso must have seen it.....

[Nova]

Well what other position could Chris possibly land in at Ferrari?

[scuderia_nano]

Classy move by Ferrari, if true.

Really. Dyer was not doing so well and its testimony to the last 2-3 seasons and those goof ups. Actually, Is it correct that Ferrari had hired Martin right after Spa? Because if yes, Its after SPA that our upswing began. Anyways, All thanks to Dyer for his good work.

[sv_godspeed]

i hope this isn't just because of the "wrong" call in Abu Dhabi. if that's the case, i don't see why we're not "re-assigning" Alonso to the pit crew or something like that - after all, he was the one who couldn't get past Petrov. dont get me wrong but no one is "bigger than the team" seemed to be a motto sometime back...:-E

[TheProdigalSon]

i hope this isn't just because of the "wrong" call in Abu Dhabi. if that's the case, i don't see why we're not "re-assigning" Alonso to the pit crew or something like that - after all, he was the one who couldn't get past Petrov. dont get me wrong but no one is "bigger than the team" seemed to be a motto sometime back...:-E

Rubbish! Lewis couldn't get passed Kubica either. Not much Alonso could have done.

[Hornet]

i hope this isn't just because of the "wrong" call in Abu Dhabi. if that's the case, i don't see why we're not "re-assigning" Alonso to the pit crew or something like that - after all, he was the one who couldn't get past Petrov. dont get me wrong but no one is "bigger than the team" seemed to be a motto sometime back...:-E
Refresh my memory, but was Alonso the only one who got stuck?
Didn't Lewis had a hard time passing too?

You can only do so much you cannot bend the law of physics.

Getting stuck behind a slow lousy driver is very common in modern F1.

[Grillo]

i hope this isn't just because of the "wrong" call in Abu Dhabi. if that's the case, i don't see why we're not "re-assigning" Alonso to the pit crew or something like that - after all, he was the one who couldn't get past Petrov. dont get me wrong but no one is "bigger than the team" seemed to be a motto sometime back...:-E
And who was the one that couldn't get past Alguersuari? Would you reassign him too? :roll

[brembo man]

Saying it's Alonso's fault is as upsettihg to me as the loss itself. We went from out of it to back in, to right there. If I'm still this upset, I can't even begin to imagine how disappointed and mad Alonso must be. No one is bigger than the team is why he pitted when called in. It was a team effort that got us so close and the same that got us behind a miserable slow worthless no good car and driver. P.S. As upsetting as all this is I don't believe one guy should hang for it. Everyone but me should just move on. Soon were back in action!

[vcs316]

Neil Martin interview, Friday, July 4, 2008

Computers are Formula One's wizards of winning

Mention race strategy to almost anyone outside a Formula One team and chances are it will bring to mind an on-track chess game with someone cerebral sitting on the pit wall plotting the moves, or a driver suddenly deciding to stop and change his tires to improve his lead or pass a car.

In fact, like most other things in Formula One, race strategy has progressed far beyond the intuitive seat-of-the-pants style of the old days into something wildly elaborate and scientific. It is an around-the-clock computer exercise involving millions of calculations and scenarios and a full-time staff of half a dozen engineers and mathematicians devoted to analyzing the right combination of fuel load and tire changes and when and how many pit stops to make during a race.

"Gone are the days of someone sitting on the pit wall saying, 'Let's pit now; it's a great idea,"' said Neil Martin, head of strategic operations at the Red Bull team. "They would not prevail."

For the teams at the British Grand Prix this weekend, race strategy is as important as aerodynamics, mechanics, engine power and the driver, and they have hired numerous specialists to match those in other parts of the factory. The driver serves only to feed them data.

Martin has a degree in mathematics and computer science and another in operational research, which involves the study of risk analysis and mathematical modeling. He started in Formula One on a student project applying those disciplines to race strategy. He was then hired by McLaren, where he stayed for a decade before moving to Red Bull last year.

"Before I got seduced by Formula One, I was headed right into the city doing derivatives and share trading," he said. "And in a sense, this is completely analogous to it."

Martin said it was thanks to a split in strategies between the Red Bull drivers - one stopped once, the other twice - that one of them, David Coulthard, finished third at the Canadian Grand Prix on June 8.

"All we were doing was like in a financial portfolio, spreading the risk," he said.

The Toyota team accurately predicted the timing of a probable safety car period and put its drivers, Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli, on one-stop strategies. They finished fourth and sixth.

But Dieter Gass, Toyota's chief engineer, noted the limits of race strategy.

"Strategy is not strong enough to make a bad car win races or to make a good car lose races," he said, "unless you make really big mistakes."

He said it can be crucial, however, when a race is disrupted by accidents, rain or the safety car, which neutralizes a race while the track is cleared of debris as happened in Canada.

For example, Kimi Raikkonen's victory for McLaren at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2005 was attributed to Martin's decision to do the opposite of what was expected when a safety car appeared.

But such decisions are based on data analyzed through millions of scenarios on computers that work not only throughout the week before the race, but during the race weekend and the race itself, as the team's results and those of the other teams are added.

Such strategy started to become crucial in the mid-1990s, when refueling and tire changes were introduced, meaning that a car no longer ran an entire race on a single tank of fuel and one set of tires. The importance increased in 2003, after cars were required to start the race with the same amount of fuel that they had used in qualifying. That meant deciding how much fuel to use based on an expected grid position and on the ideal length of the first stint.

The main factors fed into the computers are number of race laps, amount of fuel a car should carry, the car's speed and the duration of its tires, and what the competition is expected to do.

And human judgment in all of this?

"There could be two competing strategies, one which gives you the small probability of a shot at a podium, but if that goes wrong, you will end up 17th, 18th or 19th," Martin said. "However, there might be another strategy option that says that we can almost guarantee you seventh place. So the human has to come in, look at the campaign management and say, 'Well, do I really want to bag the 2 points? Or take the small percentage chance of going for the podium?"'

Another human aspect sometimes trumps the decisions: A driver may fail to live up to the plan, or, more rarely, he may exceed expectations.

"We got it wrong," said Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren chief executive, referring to Lewis Hamilton scoring pole position by a wider margin than expected in Canada. "We could have had more fuel in Lewis's car. You want to be on pole by a thousandth of a second, ideally, if you've done the job right. But Lewis pulled out something a little bit special, which we hadn't programmed into our analysis."

Lately, Formula One has been trying to give fans more insight into strategy.

"For those of us who are involved in it, it's a deeply fascinating sport with many facets," Whitmarsh said. "But we haven't yet done a good enough job to work on providing the fan base with the information and the insights of the complexities of our sport."

Television viewers depend on specialist commentaries. But for spectators at the track, little was available until handheld televisions from Kangaroo TV were introduced last year for rental during race weekends. These televisions provide a choice of commentary, driver-to-pit radio communications and other data provide by the teams.

But teams draw the line where the information risks giving rivals an advantage. Before the Turkish Grand Prix in May, McLaren kept secret that Hamilton's car had tire problems that required him to make three pit stops while most other drivers made two.

"It is never a good idea to advertise weaknesses," Martin said. "It is no longer an unknown; it is an absolute. And then they can increase the fidelity of their simulations against ours."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/sports/04iht-SRSTRATEGY.1.14234141.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=neil%20martin%20brad%20spurgeon&st=cse

[Grillo]

Saying it's Alonso's fault is as upsettihg to me as the loss itself. We went from out of it to back in, to right there. If I'm still this upset, I can't even begin to imagine how disappointed and mad Alonso must be. No one is bigger than the team is why he pitted when called in. It was a team effort that got us so close and the same that got us behind a miserable slow worthless no good car and driver. P.S. As upsetting as all this is I don't believe one guy should hang for it. Everyone but me should just move on. Soon were back in action!
I completely agree with you. I think the mistake in Abu Dhabi was that they didn't aim for a podium, they managed different scenarios where they had to do this or that and that they probably had talked all together before the race. In that sense it was clearly a team mistake but I still don't think Dyer is a scapegoat, changes happen in F1 very often with very good and valuable people involved.

[Suzie]

Perhaps you should be in charge of reshuffles since you seem to think you know what your talking about.

Oh sorry, I thought a Ferrari forum was for expressing our opinions on Ferrari. Silly me!

Please do let me know when I am allowed to post again. In the meantime I'll get working on my application form for Ferrari Team Principal. Thanks for the careers advice!

[TheProdigalSon]

Oh sorry, I thought a Ferrari forum was for expressing our opinions on Ferrari. Silly me!

Please do let me know when I am allowed to post again. In the meantime I'll get working on my application form for Ferrari Team Principal. Thanks for the careers advice!

Felipe baby calm down ;-). I'm sorry I snapped at you Suz I was in the heat of another debate hope you don't take it personally. Good luck with the application :-)

[brembo man]

Oh sorry, I thought a Ferrari forum was for expressing our opinions on Ferrari. Silly me!

Please do let me know when I am allowed to post again. In the meantime I'll get working on my application form for Ferrari Team Principal. Thanks for the careers advice!

Well said! Do send in that application. You'll fit right in at Ferrari for sure. Jusssst don't forget your friends when you get elected! I'd love to be assistant director of team orders!!:rotfl Posting OK 24/ 7 . And you say I make you laugh! Great post!

[Suzie]

Well said! Do send in that application. You'll fit right in at Ferrari for sure. Jusssst don't forget your friends when you get elected! I'd love to be assistant director of team orders!!:rotfl Posting OK 24/ 7 . And you say I make you laugh! Great post!

Sorry dude but I won't be hiring Rubens. Or Flavio.

@TheProdigal Son - no worries ;-)

[brembo man]

[QUOTE=Suzie;642516]Sorry dude but I won't be hiring Rubens. Or Flavio.

Well than I Ouit as of today! Sorry.

[vcs316]

Ferrari recruit Martin won't travel to races

Ferrari's high profile new recruit Neil Martin will not travel to grands prix in 2011.

The information emerged from the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort as team sponsor Marlboro's annual 'Wrooom' media event jointly staged with Ducati started in earnest.

200 members of the specialist media are reporting from the scene in the Italian Dolomites this week, where the details of Ferrari's revamped team structure for 2011 will be made clearer.

Martin, a 38-year-old Briton who was a chief strategist at Red Bull, is heading the team's new operations research department, so is expected to stay at Maranello when the race team travels to races.

Australian Chris Dyer, whose new "redefined" role will also be clarified this week, has lost his job as head of race track engineering after calling the strategy that cost Fernando Alonso the 2010 drivers' title.

Martin is to head the remote operations unit where a dozen engineers will work and analyse decisions away from the noise and stress of the pitlane and feed their conclusions to the pitwall, the news agency Sapa reported based on information from Italian media sources.

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=397446

[vcs316]

Di Montezemolo backs team reshuffle

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo believes that the staffing reshuffle his team undertook in the wake of its Abu Dhabi strategy error will help make the outfit much better prepared for 2011.

Speaking at Ferrari's Wrooom event in Italy on Friday, di Montezemolo said that the disappointment of Abu Dhabi last year is still with him - but is convinced the outfit is ready to move on quickly and put the events behind it.

"On the sporting side, granted that I sometimes still wake up at night thinking of that race [Abu Dhabi] - it would be a lie if I said otherwise - I think we must absolutely look ahead," he said.

"We are working hard on next season's car. I think it will be an extremely interesting year, with many question marks tied to the new regulations, so we'll see the others' competitiveness. I see our people working with great determination.

"As already mentioned by [Stefano] Domenicali, and as I already mentioned to you in late December, there has been no revolution. This has always been fundamental for me in these 19 years. There are improvements, we adapt, and I think that these organisational improvements that Domenicali has gone for are important in order to further improve.

"We have the need to do well from the start, both in terms of reliability, but most of all in terms of performance. Last year we lost the championship also because in the first half of season we were not up to our expectations."

Speaking about how he sees the championship developing in 2011, di Montezemolo said: "I see a completely open championship, both because these regulations even out performances and make differences unlikely, and also because already last year the season was truly unpredictable.

"During the year there's been an alternation of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull drivers leading the championship: that's something that hadn't happened for a long time. We'll see whether the small teams have made some progress."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88932

[Mrs.Domenicali]

Hello Peeps :wave

It is not that unusual for Ferrari to review their organisation during the winter months and move people about a bit.

I don't think its necesssarily about scapegoating Chris Dyer for making one ill-judged decision in the heat of the moment, but perhaps strengthening the strategy/operations side where it needs strengthening and changing and has done for some time. Just my humble opinion.

Chris is a talented engineer and I'm sure they will have found him something to fit with his talents. I will be sad if we don't get to see him at races though.

[Haris]

Yeah, but it wouldn't kill anyone to thank Dyer for the past two years. They're constantly talking about the 'reshuffle' and no one is even mentioning Dyer, at least what I've seen. And the whole reshuffling thing is basically = Dyer out Fry in.