Binotto, Arrivabene and palace intrigues? Ferrari really seems completely different…

Paris, 1620...ah no, Maranello 2017. In the aftermath of the splendid and authoritarian victory in the Hungarian GP by the German media, precisely by Bild, A dark picture of power struggles and internal wars has come to light.

The Teutonic newspaper, in an article that has already made the rounds on the web and reported as usual left and right, paints Maranello as a new Versailles, hypothesizing internal disagreements, diatribes and spite. A plot worthy of one of the TV series that are so popular nowadays.

The story, now well known, would be this: the technical director Mattia Binotto, demiurge of the rebirth of the Cavallino, would hide ambitions as a commander behind his apparent shyness and reserve, aiming straight at the helm of the ship, which for now belongs to Maurizio Arrivabene. In short, according to the authoritative opinion Bild, the calm dt would be working on a sensational blight, and the proof would be the sudden departure of the engineer Sassi, with whom he would have had some friction.

Arrivabene – Richelieu, for his part, would have unleashed his “Musketeers“, from the tobacconist sponsor to Sebastian Vettel, like pawns moved on the chessboard to entrench themselves and defend their leadership position. From the "Throne of Spa" - the one to which a Ferrari is aiming, very committed to following up the Hungarian result also and above all on more demanding tracks from an aerodynamic point of view - to the "Game of Thrones" the step seems really too short.

Yet this Ferrari that some tell us is once again ready for a turnaround, with the usual creeping discontent in the very secret control rooms, contrasts significantly with what emerges, with the evidence of a team reunited under the last triumphant podium and almost moved, capable to slingshot back towards the iris after a few such and such races, proving that they know how to keep up with a battleship that has shamelessly dominated the scene so far.

Without having the presumption (nor the evidence, let's be clear) to deny the rumors coming from Germany, only a few simple questions remain. Why would a technical director focused on a real business suddenly want to broaden his skillset? How can an internally divided team churn out pieces and updates that work and work so well together, reaching unexpected heights of competitiveness? Why is there so much talk about these discontents in Ferrari, while elsewhere it is normal for the team principal to celebrate immoderately in the face of the other team manager?

Perhaps it is better to follow F1 by trusting your own feelings. On the other hand, if a lover of conspiracy theories looks up at the sky, he doesn't see stars, but chemtrails. And this Ferrari instead seems to be working to touch the stars.

Antonino Rendina

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