(Scuderia Ferrari SpA via Twitter)
Following yesterday's announcement that Ferrari chairman Luca Di Montezemelo is to step down from his role at the Italian marque next month the big question is where does this leave the Formula One team? FIAT chairman Sergio Marchionne will take over as Ferrari chairman following Di Montezemelo's departure.
Ferrari as currently enduring one of their worst Formula One season's in recent memory and currently lie in fourth place in the Constructors championship while their drivers Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen are in 5th (Alonso) and 10th (Raikkonen) with six Grand Prix remaining this season. The outfit have scored just two podium finishes this season at the hands of Fernando Alonso.
The last time Ferrari finished fourth in the championship was in 2009 the year after they won their last Constructors championship.
It was reported in Italy over the course of last weekend's Grand Prix that team boss Marco Mattiacci who was appointed as team boss in April following the departure of Stefano Domenicali could be moved 'upstairs' to board room level within the team paving the way for someone like former Renault and Mercedes technical director Bob Bell to join the team as team principal however this seems unlikely however due to the Englishman's limited experience as a team boss. He briefly held the role of Renault team boss in 2009 before Eric Boullier stepped up to the role.
One thing is certain and that is the fact that both Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso will remain with the team into next season and possibly beyond depending on how the Italian team perform next season.
Marco Mattiacci is doing a great job for the team having been thrown in at the deep end and has overseen a upturn in form for the outfit in recent race's. The Italian has only been in the role since April and must be given at least 12 months to implement changes to the team.
Over the winter it is expected that there will be a major internal audit on everything to do with Formula One operation at Ferrari as Mattiacci was introduced to the team extremely quickly and was for the first few race's in the role purely an observer and has been working extremely hard to introduce changes.
It can also be expected that within their technical line-up the team will do everything in its power to bring in new personnel from other teams which would allow them to move forward. However despite the speculation it is extremely unlikely that former technical director Ross Brawn will return to the team in any capacity.
Kimi Raikkonen has already stated that he feels positive with how the development of the 2015 car is progressing.
© Ben Johnston 2014
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