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Martin Brundle says that Ferrari was right to sack team principal Maurizio Arrivabene ahead of the 2019 season, as "things weren't right" at the Scuderia camp last year.
Ferrari failed to win either championship despite possessing a car capable of challenging Mercedes. Earlier this week, the Maranello outfit announced that Arrivabene would vacate his post and be replaced by its chief technical officer Mattia Binotto.
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But former driver-turned pundit Brundle admitted that it was difficult to know the ins and outs of the situation as “you don’t know what you don’t know if you’re not inside an organisation”.
"But I did observe it, and see that things weren’t right,” Brundle continued. “You look at situations like Hockenheim, where Vettel was put under pressure because they didn’t do the right things earlier on in the race.
“Then he fell off the road, and he fell out of the championship from that moment onwards. You look at other things like the slipstreaming in Monza [when Vettel failed to get a tow from teammate Kimi Raikkonen due to a previously discussed agreement]. “Certain things weren’t being done.”
Ferrari showed a cold shoulder to the media in 2018, and Arrivabene was criticised for his methods following the death of Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne in July. Brundle has encouraged Binotto to take a different approach and open up more to the press.
“I do think Mattia Binotto has got a very good reputation in developing the team technically, he’s clearly a leader of people," said Brundle. “But of course now he’s the lightning conductor.
"He’s got to be up front, he’s got to speak to nasty, horrible people like me in the Formula 1 media. He’s got to be there and explain why things went well, why things didn’t go so well. It’s a different job and a different challenge.”
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Replies (5)
Login to replytalktohenry
Posts: 362
They didn't back SV early enough talking about equal treatment, what a load of bull as Kimi was never going to take on Lewis and you back the driver who is leading and who in this case is paid 3 times Kimi R's wages. This equal driver thing as a load of bull, the sponsors want a win they don't care about anything else and Ferrari need to listen to those who pay the bills.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Ok, we can all agree that Kimi could have let Sebastian ahead, but is that really such a big deal? I don't think any serious person thinks that had a significant influence on the championship. Besides, Ferrari engaged in overt team orders all year. If anything they could be faulted for doing it in a way that was extremely detrimental to Kimi and would cost WCC points.
I keep hearing lots of people say that Arrivabene had to go, even Martin Brundle now, but not even in Brundle's comments did I even begin to understand what was wrong with Arrivabene. That being said, there does seem to be consensus among insiders that this was the right move. I just don't understand why so many agree.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Nay, at that rate it was already too late. And I think its safe to say that both Ferrari and Mercedes have used far too much team orders during 2018, and that during 2019 I hope this backfires. Team orders are good for giving points to one driver, while the other tend to suffer significantly because of them. As for Brundle, I really just think he wanted to hear his voice. He does have plenty of insight into F1 for sure, but he is a bit quick at yapping his mouth at times, and I usually tend to think he is right about 50% of the times.
blade
Posts: 341
Calle not sure about that - Brundle is the best commentator we have in the UK, he's also one of the most experienced ex-drivers doing commentary - he knows his stuff. He doesn't often take the easy line, can be irreverent, principled and sticks to his guns - he's most often right.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I dunno, already at Sky, you guys have plenty of others to choose from, Crofty and Di Resta comes to mind, and then there is Coulthard and Davidson (the latter also being at Sky, if memory serves?) and the likes too. Brundle aint incompetent, far from it, but I personally find the people I've mentioned more precise.