James Allison leaves Ferrari

[jens]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/125471/technical-chief-allison-parts-with-ferrari

Big news, though somewhat rumoured for a while after the tragic loss of his wife.

Anyway, this is something, which has implications for the future.

Next year in 2017 we have new regulations coming up, and it is absolutely paramount to be best-prepared to take on the challenge.

However, Ferrari has been heavily de-stabilized at a crucial time, and we remember 2009 and 2014, when Ferrari had trouble adapting to new regulations. It could happen again, and on paper Mercedes and Red Bull (Newey is also back in business!) look in a better position for next season.

Also not confirmed, but it is likely that Allison's next destination is going to be the Renault team. They already have Bob Bell as the technical director, so the re-entered works team has a pretty sound technical team for the next few years. Right now they are re-building the mess left by the Lotus team, but a team to watch out for next years - perhaps not yet 2017, but beyond that.

[Koz]

Bad news for Ferrari.

I wouldn't be so surprised to see him at Mclaren, it might even give Alonso an incentive to stay.

[Jag_Warrior]

According to more than a few reports, in addition to the stress of losing his wife, it seems that Allison was not the sort of "yes man" that Sergio Marchionne was used to dealing with. So he let it fly and bad blood ensued. I'm now of the opinion that Marchionne has not helped matters at Ferrari at all, rather, he has hurt the Scuderia. The idea that I heard from Steve Matchett, on NBC Sports, seemed like a great one: offer Ross Brawn the title of President of Ferrari Racing and let him shield the team from the demands of Mad Man Marchionne.

With a better chassis, an ever improving Renault engine and a driver pairing at least equal to Ferrari's, I expect Red Bull will probably take 2nd in the WCC this year. IMO, there's just too much instability there right now.

[AndyL]

The idea that I heard from Steve Matchett, on NBC Sports, seemed like a great one: offer Ross Brawn the title of President of Ferrari Racing and let him shield the team from the demands of Mad Man Marchionne.

It sounds like a good idea for the team, but maybe not for Ross Brawn!

[Jag_Warrior]

True. He would have to deal with Sergio Marchionne on a daily (or hourly!) basis. But according to Matchett, that's how he works his magic: he listens to the yammering of suits and shields the technical experts from having to deal with the noise, while allowing them the free space to focus on actual problem solving and racing improvements. But since he's been there and done that, maybe Ross would just rather continue fly fishing and not be stressed out at this stage of his life. And yeah, who could blame him?

I'm not a huge Ferrari fan, but I'd like to see them hitting on all cylinders again. And I think that Marchionne should take a page from Dietrich Mateschitz's book on how to be a good (absentee) landlord. I never dealt with The Surge directly when I was working in automotive. But after Fiat took over Chrysler, I was told by friends who still worked there that there was a loooong period of chaos that followed, partly because of Marchionne's dictatorial management style. In building grocery-getter cars and pickup trucks, in the end, I guess you can make that style work. But in (re)building a complex, high tech racing team, that relies on high level expertise and a sort of black art technical abilities, it doesn't seem to work so well. I'm told that artsy type people tend to be rather high strung and eccentric in their behavior and sensitivities at times. I mean, you never hear of Mateschitz being critical of Adrian Newey, do you? I bet he could design a car with square wheels and Mateschitz wouldn't peep a word. :D