EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
MATTIA BINOTTO, THE MAN in the background doing great work at Maranello for the last 24 years, finally finds himself in the spotlight as Scuderia Ferrari’s boss. The contrast in style with his predecessor Maurizio Arrivabene could hardly be starker; quiet consensus replacing adversarial pass-it-down-the-line commands, a search for the nuances of understanding as opposed to raging against the circumstances, engineering rigour rather than marketing bluster, someone who understands how people work together rather than how they choose cigarettes.
Before his sudden and untimely death last year, Sergio Marchionne had come to realise what Binotto’s true role should be. The talents he’d demonstrated as technical director, as he’d totally revitalised Ferrari’s long-dormant creative energy, made him the logical choice to lead the whole team. The upper management left in Marchionne’s wake eventually came to the same conclusion – and so the spotlight swung around to shine upon him. Ironically, he does not enjoy that light anything like as much as his predecessor, but neither does he duck it. It’s just part of the whole, and he’s never been stressed by learning new skills or assuming more responsibility. So he sits down with Motor Sport, camera shutter clacking in the background, to tell us about his new role.