After word spread this week that Ferrari essentially ignored Charlie Whiting’s suggestion that Fernando Alonso give back his spot to Robert Kubica after passing while cutting a corner, there has been more than a bit of talk — at F1B and elsewhere — about whether there is a management problem at Maranello.
It isn’t a new concern in the Luca di Montezemolo / Stefano Domenicali tenure. Last year also saw Ferrari with a less than top-notch car, some mind-blowingly stupid qualifying decisions and, perhaps most famously, Kimi Raikkonen being allowed to be seen enjoying an ice cream after an early exit from a race.
“This wouldn’t have happened under Jean Todt or Ross Brawn,” was the cry.
All in all, it didn’t seem very “Ferrari,” at least the Ferrari Formula 1 fans had come to know through the early part of the 2000s.
Now, the decision to ignore Whiting, coupled perhaps with the fact that I suspect just about every fan watching the race knew Alonso had to be save and give back the overtake, has stoked the calls for a change in the team’s management.
Our issue here, though, is less whether the team should do it and more would it do so? Would it take such a dramatic step as get rid of a major leader (probably Domenicali) during the season? Or do you think it more likely that if there continue to be human errors and the team doesn’t perform as well as it is accustoming to doing, then we will see a change during the off-season?
I ask while realizing that Alonso still is in fifth place in the drivers championship and Ferrari is relatively securely in third in the constructors race. But a few more bad finishes, with the team scoring only a handful of points, could change that quickly. After all, Felipe Massa hasn’t scored a point — a single point — since Turkey.
