F1 News: Ferrari hints at why Maurizio Arrivabene was sacked

What's the story?

Ferrari announced a few days ago that they would be replacing their team principal Maurizio Arrivabene with technical director Mattia Binotto set to take over.

Pierro Ferrari, the son of Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari, has now hinted at why Arrivabene has been dismissed ahead of the 2019 season, during an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport.

In case you didn't know...

Arrivabene joined Ferrari in 2014 and replaced Marco Mattiacci as the team principal of the Italian team. Ferrari had a great car in the 2018 season and looked set to win the drivers and constructors championship in the midway point of the year, though poor performances in the latter half gifted the title to Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.

The heart of the matter

Pierro revealed that there was some disagreement between the board members of Ferrari regarding their team. There have been reports of how Binotto and Arrivabene didn't get along, which could have resulted in Binotto eventually departing the team.

"I don't want to go into details, also because I can only speak as a shareholder, but I only say that there was a confrontation between us members."

"In the end, we acted in the exclusive interest of Ferrari - the most important thing that we took into consideration was to guarantee the technical continuity and be able to count on Mattia Binotto's vast competence as being fundamental to building a strong team," said Ferrari to La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sportsmole).

What's next?

Arrivabene is no longer with Ferrari but reports indicate he could potentially still be in the F1 paddock ahead of the upcoming campaign. Recent developments have seen him linked with a move to Sauber, where he'd be following Kimi Raikkonen - who departed for them in a surprise move at the end of last season.