Domenicali resigns from ferrari

Domenicali resigns from ferrari

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Discussion

bubney72

1,102 posts

153 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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Shame, I always found his interviews insightful and without pretence.
But then again, if the team isn’t working, the boss has to take the chop.
I hope he has picked up another role within Ferrari.

24lemons

2,648 posts

185 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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stephen300o

15,464 posts

228 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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Oh my aching sides..

stephen300o

15,464 posts

228 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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revrange said:
No surprise there, the Ferrari way, someone has the carry to can for not producing a winning car.
Yep, Whitmarshed!

Derek Smith

45,655 posts

248 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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I met him once and found him open, funny and helpful. I'm no Ferrari fan but I warmed to him. I'm sorry to see him go but as a poster said, the Ferrari way is to blame one person and they seem to think all their problems are over.

DHB07

80 posts

121 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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McLaren ousting Whitmarsh I can kind of understand - the team was all over the place and were even managing to throw it away whilst being competitive.

Perhaps it's the language barrier, but Ferarri F1 looked in much better chape than McLaren F1 as a team. They've been pretty competitive the last couple of years - much more so than McLaren and Domenicali seemed like he was doig a decent job. If RB weren't in the picture* then I reckon they'd have grabbed a couple more titles.

  • NB. I do realise that RB have been well and truly in the picture and perhaps Luca can't help but hate being beating by "a fizzy drink company".

Some Gump

12,688 posts

186 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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When I look at the Ferrari, I think the biggest issue is the engine. How slow was it in a straight line last race?

IMO it's a slippery slope. Not only is the engine under power, but I am pretty sure that e.g cooling requirements, packaging requirements must be worse than Merc. If you're designing an F1 engine, power and weight must be the top 2 priorities, and they've got both of them wrong, so the whole shebang must hamper the car.

Here's hoping I'm wrong though, F1 with a competitive Ferrari is more enjoyable than F1 witrh a 3 legged donkey...

Bradgate

2,823 posts

147 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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Not a surprise. Di Montezemolo was obviously furious in Bahrain, and made no attempt to hide it.

Ferrari have massively under-achieved in recent years, and Alonso has been carrying the team almost single-handed. He is clearly getting fed up with the situation, and understandably so.

Domenicali seems like a genuinely nice guy, but in the end it’s results that count in F1. At least Martin Whitmarsh will now have someone to play Golf with on Sunday afternoons.

Oddball RS

1,757 posts

218 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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Some Gump said:
When I look at the Ferrari, I think the biggest issue is the engine. How slow was it in a straight line last race?

IMO it's a slippery slope. Not only is the engine under power, but I am pretty sure that e.g cooling requirements, packaging requirements must be worse than Merc. If you're designing an F1 engine, power and weight must be the top 2 priorities, and they've got both of them wrong, so the whole shebang must hamper the car.

Here's hoping I'm wrong though, F1 with a competitive Ferrari is more enjoyable than F1 witrh a 3 legged donkey...
I was under the impression heat rejection wasn't a problem for the power unit, i'm not so sure its just power, lack of speed can come from all sorts of factors, especially now, and you can't identify a problem effectively your done.

jp455

36 posts

152 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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The worrying thing is that apparently the replacem,ent they chose has no racing experience! I realize its not a must (Flavio) but at this stage in the season youd think they would have put someone in place that can hit the ground running.

FourWheelDrift

88,504 posts

284 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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His first choice declined.

"Whaddaya mean you a no interested?"

Henry Fiddleton

1,581 posts

177 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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Ferrari were garbage bar the golden period with infinite testing, resources and tyres.

The "dream team" exploited this far and square.

However, I am not shocked to see them perform like this since 2006/2007.

They have the budget to turn out good cars - money matters.

However, they are not leading innovative team, and in this era that matters.

Good luck to the new guy - the world/the team itself thinks they have the right to be up there with Merc.

Very high expectations.

ukmike2000

476 posts

168 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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Sad to see him go - but the manager always carries the responsibility and Ferrari have just not been good enough lately. I hope they find him a job somewhere in the FIAT Group organisation

Leithen

10,878 posts

267 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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As with so many of these situations, it's very easy to decry the failure to win and even easier to fall back on the "largest budget" claim as the nail in the coffin.

Inevitably it's a lot more complicated than that. They haven't had the largest budget for some time, especially if their engine construction is taken into consideration. Much more to the point, they've had consistent aero difficulties in recent years, with wind tunnel calibration issues that have severely hampered in season development.

Ultimately, this has all happened under SD's tenure, whether or not he is personally to blame for such failures. That Alonso and the team have competed so well against the juggernaut that Red Bull became, is to his great credit. That he is the most likeable human being is something that many of us will miss. Have a good holiday SD, you deserve it.

There was a small chance that Ferrari could pull a rabbit out of the bag with the 2014 rule changes and use their engine constructor status as an advantage as Mercedes has, but given the lead time into the design of today's cars and the only relatively recent arrival of Allison from Lotus, and the severe complexity of the new power units, it really was a small chance.

Hindsight shows that Brawn really was the right person in the right team, with the right resources and even the added bonus of several years of relative non-performance, to turn both Ferrari and Mercedes around. That he pulled off a similar trick with Honda/Brawn, should have been the clue that Mercedes stood the best chance of pulling a hare out of the bag.

Having watched Ferrari for 40 years now (snotty kid too nervous to ask for Niki Lauda's autograph in BRDC tent in Silverstone), I quite like the idea of Ferrari being the underdog it was during the 80's and 90's again. It will be 2015 until the power unit punches it's weight (literally). Probably until then too before a cohesive Allison designed aero package really takes hold. By then Alonso will probably be long gone - if there is anywhere for him to go.

I hope over time, both Whitmarsh and Domenicali are remembered for the thoroughly decent men they are and the period when they provided a welcome relief from some of their peers.

benters

1,459 posts

134 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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Leithen said:
As with so many of these situations, it's very easy to decry the failure to win and even easier to fall back on the "largest budget" claim as the nail in the coffin.

Inevitably it's a lot more complicated than that. They haven't had the largest budget for some time, especially if their engine construction is taken into consideration. Much more to the point, they've had consistent aero difficulties in recent years, with wind tunnel calibration issues that have severely hampered in season development.

Ultimately, this has all happened under SD's tenure, whether or not he is personally to blame for such failures. That Alonso and the team have competed so well against the juggernaut that Red Bull became, is to his great credit. That he is the most likeable human being is something that many of us will miss. Have a good holiday SD, you deserve it.

There was a small chance that Ferrari could pull a rabbit out of the bag with the 2014 rule changes and use their engine constructor status as an advantage as Mercedes has, but given the lead time into the design of today's cars and the only relatively recent arrival of Allison from Lotus, and the severe complexity of the new power units, it really was a small chance.

Hindsight shows that Brawn really was the right person in the right team, with the right resources and even the added bonus of several years of relative non-performance, to turn both Ferrari and Mercedes around. That he pulled off a similar trick with Honda/Brawn, should have been the clue that Mercedes stood the best chance of pulling a hare out of the bag.

Having watched Ferrari for 40 years now (snotty kid too nervous to ask for Niki Lauda's autograph in BRDC tent in Silverstone), I quite like the idea of Ferrari being the underdog it was during the 80's and 90's again. It will be 2015 until the power unit punches it's weight (literally). Probably until then too before a cohesive Allison designed aero package really takes hold. By then Alonso will probably be long gone - if there is anywhere for him to go.

I hope over time, both Whitmarsh and Domenicali are remembered for the thoroughly decent men they are and the period when they provided a welcome relief for some of their peers.
well said sir

rubystone

11,252 posts

259 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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More winks from people who try to convince us they have inside knowledge. Facts are:-

Domenicali knew he was doomed from the day that car rolled out.

Brawn has no doubt been approached by everyone on the grid. I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't been offered Manor (nee Marussia) at a knockdown price.

Brawn has gone fishing. Why would he cut that short at a time where the only certainty is that Mercedes have the best engine, Red Bull the best car and Ferrari would appear to be behind on both chassis and engine?


jp455

36 posts

152 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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The thing that REALLY sucks in this age of frozen development and lack of testing is that with neither of those how are teams supposed to claw back the disadvantage??

It seems to me that its now become a sport of first come first served...Mercedes have come out with the best engine and nobody is going to change that going forward.

So new manager or not Ferrari is really in it now...

I WISH

874 posts

200 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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Would echo others' views that he seemed a nice (and pretty competent!) guy.

Just what are they expecting the "new" guy to do? Conjure a new more powerful engine out of thin air?

Whip the drivers into shape? Redesign the chassis and the energy recovery system for the next race?

Turn water into wine?

Italian logic.

sperm

10 Pence Short

32,880 posts

217 months

Monday 14th April 2014
quotequote all
FourWheelDrift said:
His first choice declined.

"Whaddaya mean you a no interested?"
He-ya, is ita true whata I reed in a Sniff Peterol? You not sack or fire but de-employeriser Martin, eh? I liker the tone of this!

Leithen

10,878 posts

267 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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Luca said:


Dennis: It really works!!

Montezemolo: Just rub the foam in twice a day and you can see the results for yourself! You've got to try it Ron, even Boot's the Chemist stock it....