Ferrari confirms exit of F1 engine guru Marmorini

[vcs316]

http://f1tcdn.net/images/news/2014/marmorini.jpg

Ferrari has finally confirmed it has axed Luca Marmorini, its director of the engine and electronics department.

Marmorini was rumoured to have been let go earlier this month, although new team principal, Marco Mattiacci was guarded when quizzed on the matter. However, it has now been made official that the 53-year-old is to leave the Scuderia.

Marmorini originally joined the team in 1990, before switching to Toyota in 1999. He then returned in 2009, but with Ferrari struggling this season, has now become the second high profile casualty, following on from Stefano Domenicali, who resigned as team principal back in April.

As well as announcing Marmorini's exit, the Scuderia has also revealed the “new power unit management structure”.

“As part of the restructuring of the power unit department, Mattia Binotto will assume the role of chief operating officer,” the team said.

“James Allison, technical director, continues to be responsible for the entire car project, supported by Nikolas Tombazis, chief designer chassis, and Lorenzo Sassi, chief designer power unit.”

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Ferrari denied reports that engineering director Pat Fry had been sacked, dismissing the stories as just rumours.

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/207235/1/ferrari-confirms-marmorini-exit.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

[killer]

So Allison, Tombazis, Sassi, Binotto, and Fry report to Mattiaci?

Anyway, can't help but feel Pat is almost surely on his way out.

Kinda makes you think about the decision to let Chris Dyer go over one bad call, no?

[Rishu]

Kinda makes you think about the decision to let Chris Dyer go over one bad call, no?

It was way too harsh if you ask me

[Rob]

It was way too harsh if you ask me

It was a Kneejerk reaction to a situation in the heat of battle that slip beneath our radar. Chris Dyer should still be in Scuderia, and in Pats place.

[shamim179]

It was a Kneejerk reaction to a situation in the heat of battle that slip beneath our radar. Chris Dyer should still be in Scuderia, and in Pats place.

Whose decision was it to dismiss Dyer ?

[Suzie]

It was horrible what they did to Chris Dyer. He should not have been the fall guy for 2010.

[Rob]

Whose decision was it to dismiss Dyer ?

LcDM

[hogo]

LcDM

not true.

[Stebandelareina]

So Allison, Tombazis, Sassi, Binotto, and Fry report to Mattiaci?

Anyway, can't help but feel Pat is almost surely on his way out.

Kinda makes you think about the decision to let Chris Dyer go over one bad call, no?

No. Tombazis, Binotto, Fry and Sassi will be supervised by Allison as chief of the 666, he report to Mattiacci, as I remeber of an interview to Allison.
They have creativity freedom but is Allison who need to be sure that all the parts works together to avoid problemsd like the F14 has

[scuderia_nano]

Chris Dyer was responsible for many wrong calls.
2008 and 2009 too.
Remember Raikkonen going out on wet tyres in a dry race and Monaco penalty to both cars.

2010 was the last straw. Good riddance.

[sav_pap]

It was about time for another one head in the plate.
Where all these sacks are going to guided the team?
I am not sure if the Mattiachi is the Messiah...\
Time will tell...

[abbottcostello]

As you say time will tell, fingers crossed he's taking the team in the right direction. The waiting is tough & when you're not on top, the climb seems to take forever!
MM has a tough task & appears to be doing it in a very low key manner. I do like his respectful approach, not puffing his chest over what he's doing.

[impactX]

Chris Dyer was responsible for many wrong calls.
2008 and 2009 too.
Remember Raikkonen going out on wet tyres in a dry race and Monaco penalty to both cars.

2010 was the last straw. Good riddance.

Yeah, he failed so hard that he also helped BMW win in the DTM.

[ImportPer4mance]

You've got to start somewhere i guess. Personally i like the way Mattiachi has acted, and i do support his decisions. He seems like a very pro-active person, and it's good that he doesn't have any emotional attachments to anyone within the team.

[Alesi1]

Apparently he is off to Renault! Not good of him to go there given what he knows about our technical package. I'd be surprised if we didnt put in a 'gardening leave' clause. Hope this doesn't turninto another costa effect.

[sav_pap]

Every move you make has the ups and downs. This is the down of sacking a person so high in the team. And Ferrari repeated this not a few times the last years.But don't forget. This is the same for everybody.

[Lesky]

Apparently he is off to Renault! Not good of him to go there given what he knows about our technical package. I'd be surprised if we didnt put in a 'gardening leave' clause. Hope this doesn't turninto another costa effect.

Source? :-)

[shamim179]

He's going to be extremely valuable and helpful to Renault. Renault must be laughing that they got such an opportunity and gladly took it without any hesitation. One of our prized assets who has worked closely with engine department we're giving away in the blink of an eye. He could have been demoted or made to do something else but that is not Ferrari's policy. It was only the other day that we heard of a senior engineer unwilling to join us because of the lack of job security. Who knows how many other people think the same way when they consider working for Ferrari?

[bondilad]

Aug.4 (GMM) Mere days after officially leaving Ferrari, Luca Marmorini looks set to take another high-profile job in Formula One.

The 53-year-old's departure was interpreted as the latest rolling head at Ferrari amid the fabled Italian team's poor start to the new turbo V6 era.

Marmorini, formerly Ferrari's engine and electronics chief, could now take some of his closest colleagues at Maranello with him to another struggling F1 engine supplier, Renault Sport F1.

That is the claim of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, reporting that Marmorini's arrival is part of a restructuring at Renault after also erring with its first turbo V6 prominently supplied to reigning world champions Red Bull.

The newspaper said the news could be announced officially within days.


I understand if we had let him ago a couple years later but to axe him so early.....seems like a bad move. But probably alot of things are going on behind doors so hoping for something good to come out of it.

[Hornet]

Shouldn't there be at least a year of gardening leave considering his technical position?

IIRC, even Rob Smedley had to do a few months of gardening leave.

[crn12]

Shouldn't there be at least a year of gardening leave considering his technical position?

IIRC, even Rob Smedley had to do a few months of gardening leave.


I guess he is to bad for a gardening leave, I don't know what Ferrari is thinking but if they haven't given it means he might not be a threat to Ferrari..

[macks]

Shouldn't there be at least a year of gardening leave considering his technical position?

IIRC, even Rob Smedley had to do a few months of gardening leave.

Gardening leave can't be forced onto any person in the EU. Even if it's written into his contract it's unenforceable. A person has the right to employment in the EU so unless his former employer continues to pay him a weekly wage they can't stop him from taking up a position immediately with another employer, even if they are in direct competition.

At the end of the day, Ferrari fired him so they now have no right to say where and if he works again.

[Kiwi Nick]

Better that he goes to Renault now while all he knows is the stuff that doesn't work rather than after Ferrari come up with new ideas.

[bondilad]

At the end of the day the PU he produced is overweight and underpowered, and right now it seems like we are behind renault as well. So not sure what kind of information he can pass onto renault. Eventually all 3 PU will produce the same power and drivability. Only hope is the three merc engineers we recruited could give us some inside info on Mercs PU so that we can ccatch up faster.

[killer]

No. Tombazis, Binotto, Fry and Sassi will be supervised by Allison as chief of the 666, he report to Mattiacci, as I remeber of an interview to Allison.
They have creativity freedom but is Allison who need to be sure that all the parts works together to avoid problemsd like the F14 has

Cheers. :-)

[vcs316]

Aldo Costa speaks about the situation Ferrari is in today (Czech language - using Google translate) - http://www.f1talks.pl/2014/08/05/costa-ferrari-to-mit/

Aldo Costa in May 2011, was dismissed from the post of Technical Director at Ferrari. Two months later, he decided to completely go out of Maranello. After a forced break contact Costa joined the technical department of Mercedes, who at that time acquired a number of specialists from different fields.

Today, the name of the Italian engineer appears in the media very rarely, but in the coming days may change, and all through the interview, which gave Leo Costa Turiniemu. died in the many bitter words about former employer.

"To be honest, I worked for a company that is a myth. I do not enjoy as much lowered its level on the tracks, even though they sent me and because of the way they sent. "
"In Maranello works a lot of people close to me and it hurts me when I see how complicated the situation they find themselves. I left many friends there and I welcome the fact that they were in trouble. "

Costa does not expect to Ferrari in the near future, constitute a real threat to Mercedes. bigger problem seems to be the current improvement of the results presented by a team from Milton Keynes.


"Saying this, I do not think the Ferrari was a threat to Mercedes in 2015. More worried about Red Bull, who showed and still shows incredible fast response ... This is amazing. "

Italian engineer indicating the main reasons for the slump Ferrari pointed unsuccessful strategic decisions and personal.

"It will not be fully objective, just my opinion. Here it is: strategic mistakes were made at the level of planning that proved to be very serious. Of course it was also a lot of bad personnel decisions. "
"Here is an example. In 2008, we presented the need to build new wind tunnel. It seemed crucial to maintaining competitiveness. We were told that there is no need. "
"The Ferrari all decisions regarding strategy and personnel are taken by the President, by Montezemolo. To be clear, when it undertook a Ferrari triumph, and when the Italian team stopped winning. "

Costa questioned the suggestion that it is Fernando Alonso, the Spanish Grand Prix in 2011, was to demand his head. Spanish driver outside the car was described as mysterious and difficult to understand.

"I do not believe that in 2011, after the Spanish Grand Prix, Alonso wanted me flew. Fernando I see as a great driver when driving a car. In addition to a car I've never been able to understand, for me it is mysterious and enigmatic. I do not think we will meet again in the Mercedes, because I see no reason why Hamilton would leave our team. "

[Kiwi Nick]

The full article with Aldo Costa is here, in Italian, but you can translate it with Google or Bing.

http://blog.quotidiano.net/turrini/2014/08/05/aldo-costa-si-toglie-i-sassolini-dalle-scarpe/

[Rishu]

He wanted an upgraded wind tunnel in 2008, request which was turned down by LDM.

[vcs316]

He wanted an upgraded wind tunnel in 2008, request which was turned down by LDM.

Yup, the article clearly states all decisions are taken by LdM who clearly did not understand the need/want for an upgraded wind tunnel. I wonder how many such proposals were turned down!

[vcs316]

Here is the article in English:


Aug.6 (GMM/Inautonews.com) Aldo Costa insists he is “sorry” to see his old team Ferrari struggle in formula one.

Amid an earlier dip in the fabled Maranello team’s form, the 53-year-old was ousted by Ferrari in 2011 and he joined Mercedes, who are now utterly dominating the sport.

“Comeback? Actually I am fine where I am,” said Costa, who although based at Brackley is currently holidaying in his native Italy.

“Ferrari — do we have to talk about it?” he told Ferrari insider Leo Turrini in his Quotidiano blog.

“Write, then, that I am sorry. Honestly.

“I’m an emiliano (from the Emilia-Romagna region) and I worked for a company that is a myth. It cannot please me to see the level they are working now in formula one, even though they sent me off in a way that I wouldn’t describe as exactly elegant.

“That said, I don’t think Mercedes’ problems in 2015 will come from the Rossa (reds). We’re worried about Red Bull, who have proved and are proving to have an extraordinarily fast reaction.”

Asked what he thinks Ferrari’s main problems are, Costa replied: “It is not absolute — it is my opinion. But very serious mistakes were made in the strategic vision.

“An example: in 2008, we in the racing team thought it essential to have a new wind tunnel to remain competitive. We were told there was no need.

“In Ferrari, all the strategic decisions were always made by (Luca di) Montezemolo. He took them when Ferrari triumphed and when Ferrari ceased to triumph. Just to be clear.”

When Costa was ousted, however, it was rumoured that it had come at the behest of Ferrari’s number 1 driver, the influential Fernando Alonso.

“I do not believe Alonso was out to get me,” he insisted. “In the car, I consider him to be a great. Out of the car, I was never able to understand him — to me he is an inscrutable, enigmatic character.

“I don’t think we will see him at Mercedes. I don’t see why Hamilton would leave a team like ours,” added Costa.

Clearly, the manner of Costa’s Ferrari departure still rankles. When asked about Nikolas Tombazis, Costa recalls rumours that his own presence was stifling the Greek designer’s creativity.

“After I left his (Tombazis’) imagination must have been freed,” Costa said, “with results that are before everyone’s eyes, no?

“(Stefano) Domenicali? There is no resentment, sometimes we write a text message. Ferrari belongs to his past and to mine, and (Luca) Marmorini’s and many others.”

Actually, Costa has no need for resentment, as his career at Mercedes has culminated in a period of success rarely obtained in the highly-competitive world of formula one.

“Professionally it is a happy time,” he agreed, “and I’d be a liar to deny to you that I feel a deep satisfaction.

“In Mercedes there are twelve Italians; twelve engineers in the team. I recruited them myself — some from Ferrari, others straight from university. We are a small ‘tricolore’ colony within a multinational.

“Now I’m already working on the 2015 project in a normal way, as are all those who do my job.

“I will not come to any more races this season — at most maybe in Belgium or Monza, then my priorities are elsewhere,” said Costa.
by Mircea Serafim (my Google+) - Tuesday, August 5th, 2014 - filed

[Rishu]

Yup, the article clearly states all decisions are taken by LdM who clearly did not understand the need/want for an upgraded wind tunnel. I wonder how many such proposals were turned down!

No one is perfect but it seems he has made some terrible calls