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Former Ferrari engine boss Lorenzo Sassi is heading to arch F1 rival Mercedes. In July, Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne confirmed rumours that respected designer Sassi had been either ousted from the F1 team, demoted or promoted. "Sassi is continuing the development of his career. We did it with Cardile as well," he said.
Marchionne was referring to Enrico Cardile, who moved from Ferrari's GT programme to head the F1 aero division. Sassi's move was in the opposite direction, but Speed Week now reports that the Italian did not want to work outside of F1 for Fiat Chrysler.
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Spanish newspapers AS and Marca claim that Sassi is instead heading to Brixworth, where Mercedes designs and builds its championship winning F1 engines. Other high profile Ferrari refugees who switched to Mercedes include Aldo Costa and James Allison. Sassi, who was replaced at Maranello from within Ferrari's GT division, worked for Ferrari for 11 years.
Ferrari and Mercedes did not comment. (GMM)
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Replies (3)
Login to replyKean
Posts: 692
Aldo Costa and James Allison are two highly competent individuals as I understand it. I wouldn't be surprised if Sassi is an ace, ousted by Marchionne. I have a feeling that Marchionne is the problem, he seems to be a huge douche.
Barron
Posts: 625
A very clever douche then. Capo Di capo Marchionne is rebuilding the giant Fiat empire and he’s doing a great job adding shareholder value. Where it falls down is when people like this try to micro manage..It undermines the line boss and disturbs the status quo. It’s amazing how many powerful industry men indulge in it though...
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
But is Maestro Marchionne good for their F1 division, I wonder.