"Sacking the guy in charge is what Ferrari used to do" - Here's how Mattia Binotto got rid of the 'fear culture' at the Prancing Horse

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto is credited with eradicating the culture of fear that was a trademark at the Italian squad for far too many years. That is the view of respected journalist Mark Hughes as he talked about how Ferrari was caught in turmoil once Jean Todt and Ross Brawn left the team. Speaking on The Race F1 Podcast, Hughes said:

“Sacking the guy in charge is what Ferrari used to do, apart from in the Ross Brawn/Jean Todt era, and it led to a sequence of the team falling ever further and further back, and the whole place operating under a culture of fear. What Binotto has done is changed that. He maybe hasn’t yet managed to combine that with taking on, accepting and eradicating weaknesses without making it fearful for the people there."

Hughes talked about how Binotto had been able to get rid of the fear culture within the team. To add to it, he has been responsible for having the best and most impressive Ferrari produced in many years. He said:

“He doesn’t want that fear culture and he seems to have got rid of that very successfully. He’s also overseen the most technically impressive Ferrari for many, many years. So I think he’s got a lot more right than he’s got wrong. But it’s frustrating for Ferrari fans if you keep seeing the same things going wrong over and over again, when it’s for the same reason."

According to Hughes, all that was needed at Ferrari was to bring in a bit of culture from Mercedes and Red Bull where the teams focus on eradicating weaknesses, and then the Italian squad could end up becoming a formidable contender. He said:

“If you can combine what Binotto’s brought with a little bit more of the culture that we see at the teams that have been the top teams for a long time, like Mercedes and Red Bull, with regard to how you go about eradicating weaknesses, then I think it will be an absolutely formidable team. To sack the man in charge because things have gone wrong would be absolutely the wrong way of thinking.”

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Ferrari's tendency to deflect blame is worrying

There are, however, concerns with the way Binotto and the team might be approaching the season, though, as was pointed out by Edd Straw. Binotto has been very vocal in deflecting blame every time something goes wrong and according to Straw, that needs to change. He said:

“What concerns me is that while Binotto should 100% not be scapegoating people, if there’s a weakness and a problem, at least accept it. You see Toto Wolff do this, he will ‘blame the problem,' as he likes to say, not the person. But Binotto seems to be batting it away and saying ‘no, we’ve done everything perfectly.' Sorry, you haven’t.

“Binotto will know there are problems, and it slightly concerns me when the message that’s going out to everyone is ‘all the decisions were fine.' OK, if your decisions and reasoning were fine based on the information that you had, then 1) how are you acquiring that information? and 2) are you looking at the correct information?"

While the Italian squad might have a sympathizer or two, the lack of strategic prowess is alarming and needs to be resolved.