F1 News: The Real Reason Behind Mattia Binotto's Ferrari Failure

Mattia Binotto will be leaving the Ferrari F1 team on the 31st December this year after he announced his resignation as team principal yesterday and it has now been reported that his reluctance to "changer personnel" even after mistakes were made was a major contributing factor to his departure.

Sky Sports have reported that:

“Chairman John Elkann, who runs Ferrari and Fiat Chrysler business, wants more of a rigorous, track-side team boss to take control of the operation.

“Ferrari got themselves back into contending for victories, even winning races, starting the season well after two years in the doldrums.

“But they had operational problems. They had engine breakdowns costing Charles Leclercvictories in Spain and Baku."

The Sky Sports report continued:

“There were strategic mistakes made in Monaco and Silverstone which cost them dearly.

“Binotto didn’t want a blame culture. He didn’t change personnel. Ultimately, that standpoint is not the way forward, as far as Elkann is concerned.

“Maybe there is a feeling that Binotto, who has been at Ferrari at 27 years, is he tough enough and ruthless enough to be the boss?”

Although Ferrari finished in second place in the constructor's championship with Charles Leclerc coming second in the driver's championship, the team still had many power unit and strategical issues. After a strong start to the year it looked as though the team were back to their championship winning days, with many pinning their hopes on Leclerc taking his first championship win. However, the second half of the season saw the a downturn in performance.

Rumours over Binotto's future with the team have been circulating for some time, but it was only confirmed yesterday and it has not been revealed who will be replacing him just yet.

Binotto has been with Ferrari since 1995 and has worked his way up from working on the engines to being chief technical officer, to team principal.