Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene could swap the pit wall for a director’s box following reports in Italy he could join football team Juventus.
With the Scuderia looking set to once again fall short of winning the championship in 2018, murmurs are gathering that Arrivabene, who was installed in 2014, could be given the axe at Maranello.
Before being pushed, however, it appears the flamboyant Italian could walk and replace the outgoing Guiseppe Marotta as general director at the reigning Serie A champions.
Ferrari and Juventus do share a much closer connection that many would expect with Agnelli family owners of both through the holding company Exor.
Arrivabene remains a close friend of the family and has been named on a shortlist for the role at Juve along with team legend Pavel Nedved.
A possible departure may also have links to the decision to promote Charles Leclerc for 2019 with Maurizio reportedly among those keen to retain Kimi Raikkonen for another season before eventually the contract signed by former chairman Sergio Marchionne with the Monegasque was adhered to.
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Amid all the possible internal scrambling, former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has rehashed an old criticism he has of the Scuderia, believing it could explain why they keep falling short of their potential.
“It’s too Italian. I said to somebody the other day it’s back to the old days,” he told ESPN.
The “old days” he’s referring is the pre-Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt era when Ferrari would win occasional races but fail to convert it into championships.
“We got Todt to go there and look after things a little bit, so it wasn’t Italian too much, and Michael was running the team. So it was all a bit different,” Bernie continued.
“I think they’re missing that sort of a set-up now.”
