Ferrari has ruled out leaving Italy as it bids to end a seven-year championship drought. Having faltered at the start of the new turbo V6 era, the Maranello marque has undergone a radical shake-up ahead of what new president Sergio Marchionne admits will be yet another difficult campaign in 2015.
In the late 80s, Ferrari made a bold bid for competitiveness by signing designer John Barnard and letting him work for the team from an English base. More recently, the iconic team has struggled to similarly woo F1's top designers like Adrian Newey, and so speculation of the return to having a UK base has re-emerged. It would also allow Ferrari to benefit from F1's so-called 'Motorsport Valley', where eight of the 11 teams that began the 2014 season are based.
But Marchionne has ruled it out. "Ferrari is Italy," he is quoted by Speed Week, "and this exclusivity will be untouched. A Ferrari must be built in Italy -- anything else would be blasphemy," Marchionne insisted.
The 62-year-old Italian-Canadian is famous for having revived not only Fiat but also Chrysler, and now he is also heading Ferrari in its period of turmoil. "I have already simplified my life because I have only three phones," he laughed. "But it's true -- at the moment I live predominantly on planes." (GMM)
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