The word from Maranello is that Nikolas Tombazis, the chief designer is leaving and that he has been replaced in the role by his deputy Simone Resta. In addition the team has taken on Bob Bell formerly the MD of Renault F1 who has spent recent years with Mercedes. There are lots of other rumours swirling around the Italian team.
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joeblogsf1 
Toto Wolff is to Arrivebene as Paddy Lowe is to…
Mr Brawn?
…Dr Bell
Leo Turrini called this about a week ago, so its old news regards The Tomb. Bell too.
I suggest that you don’t bother reading all my old stories. I believe it happened on Tuesday.
What value is this comment?
I don’t know as I never know what a comment refers to…
I’d love to see Tombazis go back to McLaren but I wonder how that’d coincide with Prodromou’s arrival and his new role. As far as I remember, both worked under Newey before Tombazis went back to Ferrari at the end of 2005 season?
Pete Prod and Nick were not the best of buddies, word had it. Rivals to succeed Adrian Newey, I guess.
James Allison and Bob Bell? Now all they need is Pat Symonds and Fernando Alonso…
It must be frustrating for Alonso to see the changes he wished to see in the team take place after he is out.
Too late to have a serious influence on the 2015 car. But with their rumored engine design it won’t matter much anyways.
Wasn’t unexpected. Tombazis and his team haven’t produced anything spectacular in recent times. It will be interesting to see the results of current Ferrari restructuring.
You will need to check that in about 4 years then, no rush.
I’ve got my gimlet eye on Arrivabene and Bernie and good ol’ Flavio. Those gents are going to do something interesting together.
What’s good about Flav? He is a horrible image for F1. Always has been, always will be…
As horrible as those who run F1 now? Doesn’t seem much different.
Bad sign, surely, if there’s a kind of perverse nostalgia for the “bad old days” … applying *that* indiscriminately…
Not sure if I put that quite the best way, nor that Flav necessarily wins worst of the worst, all time, necessarily, I just don’t care to split hairs on that count. But being saved from the fallout, and I mean that loosely in every way, but he was to my view protected, from so recent and … Actually the sheer care less in your face contempt for the spirit of the word sport, even if only in the context of a dictionary argument for the opposite of what sport means, puts him in a different class, for me. It’s only human to have mixed feelings for “lovable rogues” because it’s like befriending the playground bully: ruthless people present a threat to good order and societal wellbeing, and a way of mitigating the risk is to befriend them, and just being human, we’re tempted to diminish the threat in our imagination for many reasons, sometimes including our own self perception of self determination. But like all oxymorons, lovably being a rogue is still bunk. One wants to lovably extend a friendly arm around such mens’ shoulders, with a warm smile, and say, in consoling plum toned bonhomie, “There there, the good ones always get it rough, now get thee gone forever me old mucker, don’t worry, it won’t matter to you in the long run, it’s only a *game*.”
It’s about the passion, sure. It’s about the principle, too.
A horrible image for F1… I’m not exactly a fan of his Joe, but frankly he would fit right into F1’s current horrible image then, not to mention overseeing 4 WC’s
Because maintaining the status quo or making it worse is really going to make the sport better, right?
The good thing about Flav is that he makes everyone else look good and demonstrates to the rest of us how not to be!
I’d suggest you watch The Four Year Plan for an insight into the wisdom of Flavio; I was left with the distinct impression that his success in F1 was down to a combination of arrogance and bluster, and most of all being lucky with the people around him; because he comes across as a complete tool.
As I said, quite fitting for F1 for what seems to be the foreseeable future. ALL team owners rely on being lucky with the people around them
I can’t believe you thought about that before writing it. You seem to leave out possibility of F1 team owners having innate talent and intellect, business skills acquired, often, over many years (think, for example, Frank Williams, Ron Dennis). Not to mention hard work – “the harder I work, the luckier I get”
principle….
Flavio is just a tosser. A lucky one.
+1.
Hmm, lucky tossers do seem to be favorites of copy editors. Something leveling, proletarian in the “all of the same clay” approach to knocking people down a peg or two. Only who if the red rag journos would ever call out a man for their failings before they were “caught”, and warn us of the character before it’s a slam dunk to salt a wound? Where are the turnarounds, the travelers to Damascus, the reprieved and the greatly grown, the unexpected stories if triumph that make fresh a man’s public redoubt? Frank W was once given a nickname with rhyme and presumably reason. We know him today as a giant of dedication, even when Sundays are reluctant to bestow their love. How do we treat the new entrants we so badly want? Who we want to provide us with the excitement of accomplishment, but also share adversity’s drama? But we spurned the good ones who wanted to come, the ProDrive’s and Lolas of this world, and Epsilon Euskadi is probably not now even recognized as a name by most fans, let alone as would be contenders, I ponder in sadness.
Maybe the problem is, that lucky tossers like cuckoo chicks, are destructive, selfish, by nature, and place such demands upon their surrogates. They command the attention, also, which we know is our sustenance, in truth. Oh, we fed Briatore well, indeed. Can we spare the silver service to break wholesome bread with the true of heart and strong of character? Even if we must settle to dine with merely fine Sheffield’s stolid stainless forks?
Assuming you’re replying to me Stephen… where did I say he wasn’t one? Having worked under more than a couple of team owners (and you may have done too?) all I’m saying is that the difference between the working environments they create & oversee is frankly, minimal
What is surprising is the defection of Andrea Stella. He had Ferrari written through him like a stick of brighton rock. It’s like a Catholic priest defecting to the Protestant church.
It seems he was promised a top job under the old dispensation, and now the new men have driven him to the welcoming arms of the apostate Ron Dennis.
Joe I wonder if you can shed light on this strange conversion?
He was following Alonso
Maybe working for Ferrari is a bit like meeting one’s heroes; a dispiriting process by which the scales fall from one’s eyes, and reality turns out to be grim.
Bit like F1 at the coalface, generally. 😉
+1 rmm
Andrea should have made out to see the movie, of the name of the famous stick candy…
Movie? I am clearly ignorant. Book’s upstairs on the Greene shelf of honour, but now I’m off to explore Netflix.
In 2012 and 2013, it appeared that Mercedes-Benz had overloaded itself with talented managers such as Bob Bell. I can understand why M-B felt the need to employ such people, if only to take them off the market. But even in a big team like M-B, there is a limit for the number of star roles. When those people get bored, they find another job.
I think we should bear in mind that Ferrari themselves stated a few months ago that they don’t expect to be at or near the top until 2017. IMO, that’s why Vettel is a good fit for Ferrari: with 4 titles under his belt he’s not feeling the time pressure and urgency to win a title ASAP, that Alonso did . Vettel will be more comfortable and patient taking the time needed to have a car designed to suit him.
Dear Kenny
I hope you are right- because there is no guarantee that Ferrari will produce a competitive car in 2017.
Of course, there is another angle- that he’s a 4 time world champ, he’s only 27, he is a racing driver (ultra competitive by nature) and, he needs to win 4 more to grab the record from Herr Schumacher…..
If he is experiencing no urgency to win for Ferrari, why go there looking for a new challenge in the first place??
Cheers
MarkR
I think Bob Bell’s contribution to the successes of Mercedes GP is plain for all to see. His hiring was much more than “taking him off the market”. Renault won two F1 championships under Bell’s tenure as the technical boss and team boss and not only did he bring his engineering talents and management skills to Mercedes, but he also had the street cred to bring a number of big name aero guys and engineers to Mercedes.
As for Flavio’s successes at Benetton in the late 1980’s to the 1990’s. He had a large cheque book and the support of the Benetton family. But most importantly, he did what Bernie told him to do. It was a relationship that worked out well for both men.
I wonder how long the new “organisation” at Ferrari will be given to produce decent results. One has the impression of a bunch of molecules moving with Brownian motion, then being heated to move rapidly at random bumping into each other a lot. Still of course this may be slowed by the apparent fact that people within Ferrari do not talk to each other. Arrivabene may change this, he certainly needs to.
(I remember dealing as a supplier, with the old multinational I had worked for several years earlier. “Yes” he said “I’ll send him an email” “But doesn’t he sit next door to you?” I asked, can’t you just ask him?” “Oh no we don’t work like that!” This left the email open to be looked at at some point or ignored. Needless to say, they don’t exist any longer!)
The fact that the pre-eminent designer / aero specialist shook on a deal, but was then, in space of a few days so disgusted with the politics of the team, he backed away speaks volumes.
Hi rpaco!
Much is made in option theory, of Brownian motion. A logical leap, by which to sustain the idea of predictability of unpredictability. Although he’s known now for The Black Swan, Taleb was first better known for practical works on option theory and derivatives, which exposed much conceit about the infallibility of theory, exposed in technique. Lots useful I reckon to any engineer who models. Taleb’s talent is to see in everything a philosophy, which he makes so approachable. Dynamic Hedging may be aimed at quants, or was, but I’d say it is a general reader if you’re not intimidated by the math. You might even read and ignore the math, and obtain good insight, I think he was always warming up to his more vox pop work, because he saw how important was misunderstanding of arcane to everyone.
What a apt name to possess, Arrivabene!
I’m chuffed when Joe covers these stories that might be thought too intra-mural by other outlets, or risk treading on the newsletter’s toes. Particularly so when there’s clearly interest, that I can sort of yard arm guess from views to comments ratios. I am certain that if more coverage were possible, there would be a surprising uptake of readers.
Interestingly, a search for “Tombazis Ferrari” on Bing News is turning out only one page, and not a link to here. Does Bing need a little encouragement? Never hurts to ask / suggest / shout out to see if they index here properly. Joe, the Bing search on their latest gen phones is rather well, some might say rather too well, integrated. With Microsoft’s push of the 730/735 right bang into business, a huge push and it’s a phone that lacks very little compared with a notWoz* six hundred pounder form the fruit company, at four to five times the retail sticker, please don’t miss out on the demographic!
(Microsoft I believe are riding their own subsidy for the 730/735 Lumina models. The only reason I can think to want more specification is to entertain or boast, but they are pretty high end. The 930 / Icon luxury ones are priced up there with the iPhone 6 but at individuals or hardly at all. Yet the 730/735 is on television spots all the time, confirming my view that TV advertising is strongly about brand confidence even to business customers, whilst Office 365 subscriptions, in the home, to edge out otherwise adequate substitutes** are the prize. I am against recurring costs for software, but the cross over between consumer to business is a trend F1 teams must embrace and recognize, for it is a strength and can balance a pitch that may depend too much on board room and paddock club. I’m pleased to have spotted this trend in sponsorship earlier, but it’s more interesting than that… stuff for later)
We need a streak of good newst and propitious appointments and exhaustive working on core strength, right through F1. Bring it on!
Yes, it does seem like a Brownian motion demonstration, but it could pick up steam, sorry for the pun… ~j
**Hmmm, I did read a book or two more than I had thought, this year: iWoz, Steve Wozniak’s auto bio was a great read, His early chapters take you through the stories behind his learning the bits he dovetailed to make the Apple 1 and Apple ][, the both all single handed bar accredited contributions. A SIM card has about the similar power, now. Anyhow, sometimes the good guys win. It was a heartening and delightful read.
**some Office365 omissions are awfully glaring, but a lot of it shows úp just as glaring omissions elsewhere. I simply have to say that I love that system _only when it is properly set up, and I know few businesses who’ll get that right, forget normal people, at least for now, The whole Work In Progress model of software selling is totally wrong headed, from a customer POV, and wrong the more for private individuals, but those in business ought to fend for themselves. There’s no reason to need Microsoft, even in business. My best years were devoid of Office installations, and even lacking windows, until Win2K came as a surprise, but now Redmond really has proven the tortoise’s exception, whilst I fear the Linux devotees conned themselves with early superiority. Yet all these sometimes nebulous arguments are why, with competition always being free, as in beer, when not in spirit, the need to advertise software has become a do or die proposition. There are only ever 500 Fortune 500 companies. Nobody much cared for what runs under the lid, anyway. Do you really have feelings for SAP? I’ve met a few who do, but those are who you want to keep sweet even the more, with race meet jollies, for they can be a terribly persuasive, if strangely strung, lot, and have F1 size budgets to boot. I keep a list of upcoming software outfits, any of whom can take a technical challenge to big software tasks, but spotting when they move into the arena of needing big ticket ad campaigns is like old fashioned oil prospecting.
J (o J) – haven’t seen your writing so much lately; nice to see it again.
My reaction to your saga re: Woz, MS, et al was to recollect a book I have here somewhere – “Programmers At Work” I think it’s called. Big bits of history and the one I remember is Bill Gates’s source code for MS Basic. Nicely done. I thought you’d like that.
Pat Fry is officially on holidays… when the project for the new season is hot.
It seems to me James Allison and Pat Fry are the next ones in leaving Ferrari.
I wonder if still remain somebody in Ferrari who actually knows where is the coffe machine.
I don’t see James Allison leaving. Look at his history with Bob Bell…
+1
Constantly amazed at how many of the senior staff floating round F1 seem to all have had a formative spell at “team Enstone”. A team I have supported since the Derek Warwick days.
Joe, would you consider doing a family tree of Team Enstone, the influence spreads far from Station Lane in Witney now…..
+1, obviously.