Marmorini leaves Ferrari in reorganisation

Ferrari has officially announced that its engine chief Luca Marmorini has left the team following a very difficult start to the new turbo engine era of Formula 1.

Luca Marmorini’s departure didn’t come as a surprise as it has been long rumoured that the key figure at the Maranello-based team’s engine department won’t be retained any further. Mattia Binotto will take over from him. Lorenzo Sassi who worked at the Ferrari engine department since 2006 will become Chief Designer of Ferrari's next F1 engines.

Marmorini worked for Ferrari between 1990 and 1999. He then joined Toyota where he led the Japanese marque’s engine department. When Toyota decided to leave the sport, Marmorini swiftly returned to Maranello.

Ferrari have had a tough time with its new 1,6 litre turbo engine so far this season. The layout of the complex hybrid systems, batteries and combustion engine has proven to be no match to rival Mercedes. Despite being proud of having everything under one roof, Ferrari may well have been outsmarted on shielding the exhaust pipes along with inappropriate sizing of the turbo.

This move is a next step in Ferrari’s sweeping overhaul in its staff. The team have already recruited members from several rival teams and that won’t stop until new team boss Marco Mattiacci is sure every piece of the puzzle is in its place to pilot Ferrari back to the top.