Todt resigns as Ferrari CEO

[DaveKillens]

Well, the old guard at Ferrari has pretty well been exorcised. Theleaders of Schumacher's glory years have all moved on.
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssCons ... 3320080318

[Conceptual]

OMG!!!!


Who thinks he's in the market for STR???

That would absolutely OWN!

Chris

[donskar]

The turnover has been enormous and the team should be praised for having maintained its momentum and stayed at the very top of F1.

Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, Paolo Martinelli, Michael Schumacher, Nigel Stepney, Jean Todt. Has ANY team ever lost so many top quality people in such a short period of time.

In the early 60s Phil Hill and Carlo Chiti and most of the engineering team left Ferrari to from ATS. Ferrari stumbled a bit then (and ATS was a total failure), but this time the upheaval was peaceful and the team has gone on extremely well.

BUT, imagine how well the team could be with -- for example -- Paolo Martinelli still in place, still ensuring engine quality and reliability . . .

[mx_tifoso]

BUT, imagine how well the team could be with -- for example -- Paolo Martinelli still in place, still ensuring engine quality and reliability . . .

There's no doubt in my mind that the double DNF this past Sundary would have been a very less likely scenario. As both were engine failure related.

Did any of you notice the sound of Kimi's engine a few laps before failing? It sounded horrible, which automatically led me to believe that it wasn't going to make it until the end.

Regarding Todt's resign as CEO of Ferrari Spa, we can't say that it is of too much surprise. This has been coming for a while now, all of the senior members have been taking steps towards the door for some time now, mostly since '05. I can understand why they have taken such steps, because they have spent nearly two decades working their tails off and have seen their work reap much success. Their work is done for the time being, now it's time to let the younger members have their go at it. These are years of transition, thus explaining the reliability problems within the engine of the F2007-8. Naturally, as the younger members step in there are going to be some issues here and there, but that doesn't mean that it will happen for too long.

Work shouldn't be anyones life forever, there's a time when one needs to attend to ones own personal needs as well, so that pretty sums up what is happening.

[Conceptual]

I'll put money on him buying Torro Rosso, and bringing Massa over with him.

Vettel to Ferrari, and JT co-developing with Ferrari.

I think its coming.

Chris

[Rob W]

I'm going to be a cynic and say he doesn't want to be around when the s*** hits the fan over the Nigel Stepney espionage case. Too much info which, even if unprovable, will cause irreparable damage to Ferrari's reputation.

(...such as Stepney saying "OK, you nail me... then watch this".. as he lets out details of years of Ferrari attempts to circumvent technical rules - since he was front and centre in their technical dept for many years)

R

[P_O_L]

Good to see some changes after last weekends race, even if its the admirable jean todt. Mosley wants him as succesor and perhaps he is right. And while Todt brought Ferrrai unrivalled succes, it has to be noted the wind tunnel failure and the spycase with stepney was too much. I remember a similar brecah of security in 96 or 97 and they have taken measures but apparently not enough.

I do hope he takes his son and massa and kimi with him, so fernando and vettel and mark webber can sign up.

[Conceptual]

Good to see some changes after last weekends race, even if its the admirable jean todt. Mosley wants him as succesor and perhaps he is right. And while Todt brought Ferrrai unrivalled succes, it has to be noted the wind tunnel failure and the spycase with stepney was too much. I remember a similar brecah of security in 96 or 97 and they have taken measures but apparently not enough.

I do hope he takes his son and massa and kimi with him, so fernando and vettel and mark webber can sign up.

Kimi will retire at Ferrari, he has already stated that publicly.

Chris

[zac510]

In the original link Todt has explained the reason for his actions. What need is there for STR speculation?
He's old(ish), has been in motorsport for longer than most of us here have been alive and has been extremely successful. I don't blame him for wanting to kick back, or retire, as we'd know it, with a cushy well paid place on the board.

[mx_tifoso]

Check out this excerpt from Wikipedia:

Wikipedia: Scuderia Ferrari
On 12 November 2007, the Ferrari team announced that Jean Todt would be departing the team principal role, instead taking up a senior executive role. His replacement is to be Stefano Domenicali. It has been reported that this completes a shift in Ferrari personnel where the older foreign leadership is replaced with a new one comprised mostly of Italians.

I don't know if that theory is completely true or not, but it's exactly what is happening within Ferrari. Rory Byrne (South Africa), Ross Brawn (England), and Jeant Todt (France) have now partially, or completely, left the operations of the the Formula One team. And the current organization is mainly formed by Italian figures, with a few exceptions of course, such as the Frenchmen Gilles Simon.

As of late 2007:

Luca di Montezemolo (Italy)- President
Aldo Costa (Italy)-Head of Design and Development
Stefano Domenicali (Italy) -Director of the Gestione Sportiva
Mario Almondo (Italy)- Team's Operations Director
Gilles Simon (France)- Engine Director
Luca Baldisseri (Italy)- Head of Trackside Operations

[donskar]

Interesting point, mx_tifosi. One other non-Italian major player: Chris Dyer, Kimi's engineer (and formerly Michael's).

If the Italian's can't cut it - and they did reasonably well last year . . . I'm sure we'll see an infusion of talented "foreigners." F1 WAS once a nationalistic sport (Anyone remember when every team wore its national colors? Anyone remember what national colors ARE?), but now it is fully multinational.

[Conceptual]

Interesting point, mx_tifosi. One other non-Italian major player: Chris Dyer, Kimi's engineer (and formerly Michael's).

If the Italian's can't cut it - and they did reasonably well last year . . . I'm sure we'll see an infusion of talented "foreigners." F1 WAS once a nationalistic sport (Anyone remember when every team wore its national colors? Anyone remember what national colors ARE?), but now it is fully multinational.

Free agency seems to ruin every sport eventually.

Chris

[Tom]

I do remember what the National Colours are and I also know that they came about due to the Gordon Bennett trophy in 1900.

Wiki (of course) has a list of many here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_in ... ing_colors

[Ciro Pabón]

I've read that Todt resigned because he is going to replace Mosley next year. I imagine Manchild will have a heart attack.

[Rob W]

Todt makes his first statement as the, err... (soon to be) incoming FIA boss.

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954, ... 23,00.html

"...we need to make sure the regulations are suitable to the business because sometimes some regulations did not give the results people expected. But it's going in the right direction..."

Let's just see where this goes by the time he steps into the helm.

R