Tavoni: Vettel must 'regain his head' in 2019
A great name from Ferrari's past, Romolo Tavoni, is expecting that Mattia Binotto will get assistance as he becomes team boss in 2019.
As it stands following the ousting of Maurizio Arrivabene, Binotto has been tasked with replacing him as team boss and continuing to be technical director.
93-year-old Tavoni, a Ferrari team manager from the Enzo Ferrari days in the late 50s and early 60s, told Italy's Autosprint that there were obvious "internal frictions" between Binotto and Arrivabene in 2018.
When asked about Binotto, Tavoni said: "He is a very high level engineer. However, his new role involves maintaining relationships with the other teams, dealing with politics and relating to Liberty Media.
"Overall it will be a very complex and very burdensome task, so I think that he will be helped by someone and that this appointment will be very important for the success of his term," he added.
It is expected that Laurent Mekies will step up to some of Binotto's responsibilities, while Stefano Domenicali has been linked with a return to Ferrari.
"I sincerely believe that the departure of Arrivabene is just the first shock," Tavoni said.
"Let's not forget that Vettel did a bad championship in 2018. I believe the immediate future of Ferrari rests on the situation with Vettel.
"We saw some unacceptable mistakes, and now we just have to see what will happen," he added.
"In other words, Ferrari has a new boss but it is also necessary that Vettel, the spearhead on the track, regains his head."
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What a stupid thing to get rid of Arrivabene, clearly a brilliant team manager with so much more to give! Ferrari still have this "If personnel do no good in the first year, get rid of them and bring someone in with less experience.
it was the way he went about management. There was an overwhelming sense of fear in the garages. Not conducive to a vibrant team effort - why do you think Vettle spent more time back at Red Bull last year - and made more mistakes.? Because; as Mr Horner will tell you - Seb is a sensitive man and the vibe in the garages screwed it up..
Arrivabene is a former salesman. He was all into motivational gibberish without offering any substance. Just look at his statements about Leclerc having "to absorb...." Utter nonsense. For the last two years, to match his face, he should have been dressed in funeral clothes instead of in red. Additionally, he went behind Vettel's back making untowards statements and criticising him publicly. He overstayed his welcome by about two years.
I agree with every word you said.
“Tavoni: Vettel must 'regain his head' in 2019” That's easily done. All he needs to do is grow a mustache that Nigel Manson sported. He wore it at the St. Petersburg event and he looked everything he is: affable, handsome, distinguished....all the attributes of the former and future champion.
Perhaps Vettel needs to create a new image of himself and that would contribute to his success this year and more positive response from his constant critics. Hamilton likes to show off and that indicates a great desire for personal approval unlike Vettel who doesn't care for celebrity status and adoration but he needs to express his passionate side and keep his Prancing Horse ahead of his closest rivals.Besides Seb has the best sense of humour of any other current F1drivers and he needs to make it work well towards another title.I have been his great admirer and intend to support his quest for supremacy this season and trust Ferrari won't put obstacles in his way.
I agree that Seb would be easy company for a few pints down the pub for a few laughs. I’d doubt Lewis would be anything like as easy company and if there was music playing then the conversation would end but I’d still prefer that to seeing what Max would be like after a skin full.
Vettel is a class act and will be challenging next year I’m sure of it. He did have a very mixed season last year with some great races mixed with some poor one but we all have to realise that these guys aren’t driving at 90%. Most of the time they are all in and when that happens mistakes come along too as we’ve seen from every driver on the grid at some point.
Having a young, quick teammate will hopefully push him inside the team, which may actually translate into him having an easier time against Lewis, because if he has work to get everything out of that Ferrari then I’m pretty sure it’ll be competitive against the Merc.
Great comments guys! I totally agree! Vettel is by far the most social and common WC ever. I sure hope he has put his fist on the table in Maranello to put some common sense into the whole Scuderia Ferrari team to keep their feet on the ground and their heads down to concentrate on their jobs and just deliver a constant performance. No driver can show a constant performance, when his car has moods like we saw last year.