Aldo Costa steps down as Ferrari technical director

[donskar]

Brunner is the guy to have if you happen to need to build a Formula 1 car in the jungle ..something like that were the words of Peter Sauber some years ago..

Barnard did it 2 times don´t forget first time with GTO Guildford technical office which was sold to Mclaren and used to build/develop Mclarens F1 roadcar project if I remember correctly.the second time Barnard was around wiith Ferrari it was B3 technologies also in Guildford.I have heard that Barnard was not really a competent person when it came to leading a group of people or with humans per se? ,but he was spectacular in upgrading Formula 1 into what it is today.All the heros of today seem to have worked for him ,under him or have a relation to his work.alot of facilities carry his signature ,even RTN ,now Team Lotus ,Renault -formerly known as Benetton,Mclaren he really had a big impact on what we see todays.With Costa I don´t really understand what Ferrari found in him ,he never really seemed to be able to fill Byrnes Shoes even though some of his cars really worked,din´t they?

Agree completely. Great F1 technical minds: Chapman, Barnard, Newey. Forgheri, probably. Postlethwaite, maybe. Byrne, maybe. Barnard (and Chapman) was reputed to be very difficult to work with or for.

Costa? Well he is Italian. And he does have a lot of F1 experience. Considering the meager resources, he did a good job at Minardi . . . Then spent many years at Ferrari under Byrne. Decent man in an arena where merely competent = eventual failure. As with all who followed the "Dream Team," Costa had an impossible task.

[xpensive]

Again, is Pat Symonds still banned from F1, or could he join Ferrari with short notice?

[donskar]

Do you think that Tombazis will take the role of Costa?
Ascanelli could be a name on the list, but he has been to Ferrari twice already, I do not know if he is willing to go there for the third time.

The press release said "the technical activity has been restructured in three areas . . ." Fry was one of the three which might lead to the conclusion he will NOT be in charge of the three. Tombazis was not mentioned, so he migh tend up on top -- ot out altogether!

Tombazis has the key attribute -- he is there and is experienced with the organization. But is he identified with Costa's failure? I hope we're not returning to the bad old days of Ferrari politics.

Ascanelli is Italian -- he gets points for that! He has been associated (at a distance) with RBR, and might have picked up a few pointers from Newey. He knows the good and the bad of the way Ferrari works. He might be able to bring some talented staff with him. I understand Ferrari approached him during the off-season and he turned them down(?)

IF Newey has a "right-hand man," he's the one I'd go for.

X, don't know about Symonds' status. Is he good/tough enough?

[marcush.]

Symmonds has 2more years(?) to stay away from a role as Technical director..but as we see Briatore is back in the paddock,Coughlan,Stepney.. Symmonds was a scapegoat for Briatores weird doings I cannot imagine him being the driving force in this.But is he the man? I´m not convinced.
Dr.Harvey Postlethwaite for sure was one of the heros ...ask Gascoyne.And please: Gordon Murray and of course Byrne.

As for the wingmans in Neweys office...I hear that Vettel signed his contract after learning all the key staff in the design office have got a new longterm contract in place....clever boy.No entry for Ferrari.

[donskar]

Symmonds has 2more years(?) to stay away from a role as Technical director..but as we see Briatore is back in the paddock,Coughlan,Stepney.. Symmonds was a scapegoat for Briatores weird doings I cannot imagine him being the driving force in this.But is he the man? I´m not convinced.
Dr.Harvey Postlethwaite for sure was one of the heros ...ask Gascoyne.And please: Gordon Murray and of course Byrne.

As for the wingmans in Neweys office...I hear that Vettel signed his contract after learning all the key staff in the design office have got a new longterm contract in place....clever boy.No entry for Ferrari.

Thank you, marcush. How could I forget Murray? "And at my back I always hear senility's winged chariot hurrying near."

RE: RBR contracts: there are always buy-outs and "gardening leaves."

[Jimi_Hendrix_1967]

Symonds is not a designer. Id go for some other people at rbr, or perhaps renault, they also do great things with much limited budget.

Having said that Symonds is a genius whod fit perfectly with Ferrari.

[WhiteBlue]

Having said that Symonds is a genius whod fit perfectly with Ferrari.

Since 2011 you have to have your key people licensed by the FiA. It was done in the wake of the Crashgate scandal to prevent exactly what you are discussing here. Symmonds can only consult but he cannot take an operative role at Ferrari. If Monte tried a a quick one on this he would be squashed by Todt.

[WhiteBlue]

I also hope ldm will force fia to stop the rra and let teams decide themselves how much to invest. Whatever the outcome, Ferrari is in deep trouble. No design team for 2012 and the current car very problematic and way behind red bull.

Aren't you mixing up spending and investing? The RRA is a fundamental part of the current F1 make up. If Ferrari sets all their political goals to shoot the RRA down they go straight back to 2005 when they abandoned the GPMA and they will do the same thing to FOTA. In my view they could as well openly cheat with the technical regulations. It is less morally dubious than cheating on the ground rules when the other teams stick to them.

The FiA isn't the author of the RRA. It was made by FOTA and back stabbing FOTA is a dumb advice to Ferrari. The honourable way out of this crisis is to honour the given commitments and simply become better at the game in the old fashioned way of working harder and smarter. Cutting the corners is never going to be the answer.

Just about the only thing I agree with is that Ferrari are in deep trouble. They simply failed to re invent themselves within the constraints of the RRA two years ago, which is not the responsibility of Aldo Costa but of the two men who decided to employ him as the technical director.

Montezemolo made all the anti Todt and anti Brawn decisions and put second rate Italians in charge of Brawn and Todt's positions. Those two did not leave because they lost the taste for Italian wine or champane. They were snubbed because they sided with Schumacher against Montezemolo's will of employing Raikkonen.

To me the Maranello fish stinks from the head and it will take a top leadership replacement to cure that stink. The sooner FIAT force Montezemolo into Italian politics the better.

IMO the only sensible way for Machione is to convince Todt not to run for a second term and offer him the seat as Ferrari president. That would bring Ferrari back to glory within five years time with a solid foundation. Everything else is just witch doctoring of symptoms.

[Jimi_Hendrix_1967]

Well, the big change at Ferrari at the end of the nineties didnt came solely from the dream team; it came from very expensive investments in new tools like windtunnels. And it took time to get them up to speed as well. But once they did, halfway 1999, Ferrari produced stunning performing cars untill the FIA meddled so much with the rules they made a few mistakes during 2003 and 2005. Eversince the team encountered problems, for instance with getting tyres to work during qualifying, or up to temp in races. Weve seen last sunday they still havent solved that, 6 years on and the excuses for us Ferrari fans are getting tiresome.

Ferrari right now can hire who they want but if they dont invest in a whole raft of new equipment and staff to man it they will not get back to where they once were. Theyve been talking about reshuffling staff since 2009 and to this day it has not produced a good superfast car and had to live on mistakes from its rivals. Before that they got lucky Mclaren was throw out in 2007 of the wcc, that mclaren drivers fought themselves out of a championship. It was not good.

[xpensive]

I think it all depends what you xpect from the position as "Technical diretor", it can be anything from an adminitrative position such as Ross Brawn and Sam Michael, or hands on pencil-sketching like Adrian Newey or Mike Gascoyne.

Personally I prefer the latter kind, but Symonds and Bell (together with Michelin)were formidable at Renault in 2005-2006.

Best thing for Ferrari I think would be to bring Gascoyne back to the limelight.

[Jimi_Hendrix_1967]

Gascoyne was a disaster at a big operation like Toyota, wich ran the biggest budget of all at the time. he produced dogs year in and year out with state-of-the-art facilities.

[xpensive]

Gascoyne was a disaster at a big operation like Toyota, wich ran the biggest budget of all at the time. he produced dogs year in and year out with state-of-the-art facilities.

With all due respect, I'm afraid you got that a little backwards, the Toyota operations were indeed hopeless, but Gascoyne at least gave them their least un-successful seasons until he was backstabbed by Ralf Schumacher.

Gascoyne is a man of action, full of temper at that, which didn't sit well with the slow "Kaizen" philosophy of Toyota.

[shelly]

Two possible candidates could be Geoff Willis and Ben Agathangelou. They both are fluent In Italian.

[marcush.]

Gascoyne described his position at Toyota as being a man hired to kick ass and fire...The guy broke up a lot of the cologne Klüngel in there but even for him it was not possible to get rid of all the dinosaurs there.I have heard amazing stories from there and Toyota motorsport was not very Japan it was very Kölsch when he arrived..Really he did good work there even though I´m not under the impression he is the godfather of Formula 1 designs but he has the ability to form and build a group of people to a force to be considered .
And I don´t think they need someone at the drawing board really.

[WhiteBlue]

And I don´t think they need someone at the drawing board really.

What Newey delivers is successful proven technical leadership. People do not doubt his ability to get it right and they trust his leadership. Todt is the same way. He did it all by hard work and good leadership. This is something Ferrari needs in time of crisis. If you debate the right course of action every six month and scare away or fire another technical guy (like Brawn, Chris Dyer and now Aldo Costa) it is simply the proof that the previous top management decisions were either incorrect or done by the wrong people. Ferrari is destined for a period of further decline unless they rectify their leadership problem.