2016 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team - Ferrari

[alc59]

"Polling junior engineers for their opinion is absurd since the tendency is for only senior engineers to have strategic knowledge of the big picture; younger people tend to have a tough time speaking truth to power in general"

My management experience - all outside F1 - is that the younger people get to see things that senior managers don't
and in the right environment they will tell you what is wrong, even if they don't know or understand the political difficulties in fixing it. Capturing their views can help to validate what their bosses are telling you, and bring new thngs to your attention. Creating an open culture where all this can be done without people feeling their positions are under threat is the art of management, maximising the ability of the organisation to learn from the experience of all who work for it.

[dren]

Yes, you are right. Younger engineers are just as valuable as some of the older engineers for different reasons. Alienating them is bad management of valuable resources.

[bhall II]

If Marchionne were an engineer himself, or if the team's issues were related to the integration of disparate communities, i.e. marketing and logistics, then I might be inclined to agree. But, he's not an engineer, and to my knowledge the team's issues are all related to the car.

Again, junior engineers in F1 are deliberately kept in the dark with regard to strategic planning in order to minimize data transfer between teams, because junior engineers are the ones most likely to transfer. From what I've been told, operating on a need-to-know basis is pretty much standard practice.

What then can you learn from, say, a suspension designer who knows with absolute certainty that he can produce better components, but he has no idea how it would influence aero? He may feel like the car has more potential to offer, when in reality it doesn't. How does someone with no background in engineering put that into its proper perspective? (He hires a technical director.)

[SR71]

If Marchionne were an engineer himself, or if the team's issues were related to the integration of disparate communities, i.e. marketing and logistics, then I might be inclined to agree. But, he's not an engineer, and to my knowledge the team's issues are all related to the car.

Again, junior engineers in F1 are deliberately kept in the dark with regard to strategic planning in order to minimize data transfer between teams, because junior engineers are the ones most likely to transfer. From what I've been told, operating on a need-to-know basis is pretty much standard practice.

What then can you learn from, say, a suspension designer who knows with absolute certainty that he can produce better components, but he has no idea how it would influence aero? He may feel like the car has more potential to offer, when in reality it doesn't. How does someone with no background in engineering put that into its proper perspective? (He hires a technical director.)

I think a lot of assumptions are being made about the article when it says he hit the shop floor.

Chances he's talking to the most junior member of the suspension team? ZERO.

There are many layers between Allison and the most Jr level staff. He's probably talking to the ones that matter.

The only thing I haven't heard assumed is that he actually knows what he's doing when it comes to management of complex organizations. You think just because he doesn't have an engineering degree he doesn't know how to diagnose people and chain of command issues?

Everyone knows the car is crap. A good manager knows the real problem is the people behind it. I promise you because it's Ferrari they have some major people issues and Marichonne is looking for these human bottlenecks. You think this is the first time he's tried to resolve a major institutional problem?

[bhall II]

I think a lot of assumptions are being made about the article when it says he hit the shop floor.

[...]

Everyone knows the car is crap.

Motorsport.com has learned that he has held a series of key meetings at Maranello with the chassis and aerodynamic departments – with a particular focus on speaking to those who report to department heads as well as their juniors.

Marchionne is determined to find out whether or not there is a belief from the shop floor that more potential can be extracted from the SF16-H, and if the true state of progress of the car is as he has been led to believe by senior management.

Given the disappointing performances in the season so far, there had been a rift between Ferrari boss Sergio Marchionne and [Allison], there were disagreements over strategy and working methods.

Marchionne's opinions on development strategy and working methods are irrelevant. To me, that's like a patient critiquing his cardiologist.

A good manager knows his limitations.

And SF16-H is not a crap car, especially given the wholesale change it represents when compared to SF15-T...





















It's a chassis that was correctly abandoned, likely after Canada, in favor of next year's design, and it seems Marchionne just can't accept that.

However, Ferrari sources insist that Allison is wholly committed to the Ferrari project and is fully focused on sorting out the 2017 car that the team hopes will allow it to regularly compete at the top.

This season is over. Ferrari can either bite the bullet and move on, or it can continue the fight and lose next year, too. (You best believe Red Bull isn't waiting around to attack the new rules.)

[aral]

I have had to remove a number of posts as they were racial stirring. Please keep racism out of F1.

[giantfan10]

From Brawn on the nonsense being passed around as news:

"I've not had any communication with Ferrari whatsoever, so I don't know where all the stories have come from," he told Motorsport.com today. "I've not had a proposal, and I've not said no!
how much else in that article is pure speculation by the writer?

[SR71]

From Brawn on the nonsense being passed around as news:

"I've not had any communication with Ferrari whatsoever, so I don't know where all the stories have come from," he told Motorsport.com today. "I've not had a proposal, and I've not said no!
how much else in that article is pure speculation by the writer?

The good news is he hasn't said no.

That doesn't mean much considering Ferrari had Newey on verbal agreement and still blew it because they couldn't keep their mouth shut.

[ChrisDanger]

https://twitter.com/Jamesallenonf1/stat ... 3765543936

[Kiril Varbanov]

https://twitter.com/Jamesallenonf1/stat ... 3765543936

Yeah, Mattia Binotto takes over, along with Simone Resta. Not much will change, again. Ferrari has endured lots of changes in the last years with little or no visible championship effect. They need engineers from rival teams, namely Mercedes. I'd bet any money that AMG has secured their people big time after investing around $600 million in RnD.

[PABLOEING]

¿McLaren or Reanult new James Allison destination?

[WaikeCU]

https://twitter.com/Jamesallenonf1/stat ... 3765543936

Yeah, Mattia Binotto takes over, along with Simone Resta. Not much will change, again. Ferrari has endured lots of changes in the last years with little or no visible championship effect. They need engineers from rival teams, namely Mercedes. I'd bet any money that AMG has secured their people big time after investing around $600 million in RnD.

Or James Key? Unless he's fully committed to Red Bull that is...

That Toro Rosso should be right up there if it had the '16 Ferrari PU and genuine proven drivers that are consistent and are proven they can win races.

Edit: And the necessary funding

[Vasconia]

https://twitter.com/Jamesallenonf1/stat ... 3765543936

The guy who is in charge of designing/leading the design of the 2017 car is leaving. It doesnt sound very promising for Ferrari.

[Schuttelberg]

Looks like there's no hope of a championship fight for Vettel in 2-3 years.

[bhall II]

Ferrari has endured lots of changes in the last years with little or no visible championship effect.

That's the problem. Whenever someone new takes the helm, they inevitably bring with them their own vision of how the team should operate, and it resets the clock every time.

From the man Ferrari wanted....

[quote="grandrix.com, July 20, 2016""]Brawn, Ferrari's now retired former technical director, has played down claims he is looking for a way back into F1, saying he has no desire for another "24-7" role.

Actually, he thinks the Maranello team should stick with Allison.

"They've got some very good people there," Brawn told Britain's Sky recently. "James Allison is excellent and if they give him the resources and give him the time, and put the infrastructure around him and great drivers, then they'll achieve success.

"But they mustn't overreact and they mustn't be reactive to what the media is saying," he insisted.[/quote]
Oops.

And if this should come to pass...

But La Gazzetta claims that Marchionne, who is also the Fiat Chrysler CEO, has decided to take more control of Ferrari, including an active say on the main management decisions.

...Ferrari is fücked, because Marchionne will run the team into the ground. He just proved it by letting Allison walk away having not shepherded a single design from start to finish; SF16-H would have been the first.

It seems nothing but the weather changes in Maranello.