Marmorini laments missed Ferrari chances
Ferrari's former chief of engines and electronics, Luca Marmorini has lashed out at the team's chief designer in explaining the reasons for Ferrar'is current lack of performance.
Working at Ferrari for many years, then enticed by Toyota, Marmorini rejoined the board of Scuderia in 2009. The Italian technician was axed in mid summer as he was deemed to be responsible for Ferrari's current lack of pace and struggles in the new era of Formula 1.
Marmorini claims his opportunities had been heavily restricted when working on the brand-new Power Unit because chief designer Nikolas Tombazis wanted the new engine to be as compact as possible to make gains on the aerodynamic side.
"The rumour was that all the problems around F14 T were solely down to the Power Unit. Let's face the truth. Together with my colleagues I worked on a PU with a certain dimension which was smaller then the one of Mercedes or the one of Renault since this was what chief designer, Mr Tombazis required."
"He said he wanted a very compact PU with small radiators, because the aerodynamic solutions will compensate the lack of power and this will give us an advantage over the race car of Mercedes and Renault. Everything happened like that, but when we first saw the rivals, the lack of (engine) performance was obvious, but the aerodynamic advantages weren't present as expected."
The 54-year-old engine and electronics guru felt new team boss Marco Mattiacci didn't give him any chance to explain what happend over the course of the development of the new red machinery.
"I wanted to explain it to Marco Mattiacci when he took over the regime from Domenicali. Over three months however I barely had a word with Mattiacci, we met two times, the first time when we greeted each other, the second time when he gave me my walking papers."
The Arezzo-born technician thinks Ferrari were very brave to give the leading roles to inexperienced men.
"I don't want to accuse anyone. I am however surprised that Ferrari planned to entrust people with little experience. I feel sorry for the engineers who are still there. Binotto as my successor? I wish him all the best, I hope he won't put everything ahead of the interests of his career."
Marmorini dismissed all speculation over his possible role at Renault.
"It is not true I have already signed for Renault. I don't really like the present of Formula 1 in which an engine expert can't really work in his territory due the the rules which freeze the development in. To be honest, Grand Prix racing has its own charm though, so I may change my mind in a month and go back to work."
