SR71 wrote:Alonso was fired.
I dont think so.
Of course he was not but as you can see this type of BS works on some people. After getting rid of bad eggs like Allison and Alonso Ferrari are so close to success: they have their last "world champion" (might as well hire Fangio he won championships too), Rory Byrne is 'consulting' and the only missing piece of puzzle is Brawn. Remember him, we won a lot then and time stands still. Oh yeah and 'new Schumacher' is leading, disregard numerous missed chances that driver should be blamed for.
The way Marchionne is obsessing about Brawn in any capacity (this consulting part time which is not practical at all) shows priorities, chaos and might suggest more accurate picture of this split. I'm not saying it wasn't mutual but the balance could have been different. Why:
- timetable of events, although purely rumours it was firstly 'Allison might leave' and denials
- the whole public leaks: Marchionne talks to Ferrari people to figure out what's wrong circus, let's see if senior people (hmm) are telling the truth, safe to say they knew he might be leaving before that
- most important:replacement, not prepared, stuck on Brawn even in more marketing than practical role (consulting) and I guess temporary(?) Binotto. BTW shouldn't he be blamed for reliability (Bahrain), turbo and its weight
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? No it was all chassis (Allison) of course, investigation showed it.
- suggested conflict (AMuS). Speculative: but the way he left Lotus quickly after Australia '13. Money and perspectives (knew where the team was going) make it understandable but leaving without securing other contract, although highly probable, was still a bit weird. Lotus was running on fiction too. Ferrari had Fry, Tombazis at the time, there were links with Honda etc.