Ex-Formula 1 driver Gerhard Berger has raised concerns over the one-man leadership at Ferrari in Mattia Binotto.
The technical director also assumed the role of team principal for 2019, replacing the ousted Maurizio Arrivabene following speculation of a feud between them last year.
While many praised the move, believing it gave the team a greater focus, Berger wonders if too much responsibility now lies on Binotto’s shoulders.
“The unusual thing with Ferrari is someone getting the responsibility and getting all responsibility,” he told Motorsport.com.
“Because when you look at Red Bull, you have this [design] genius Adrian Newey, you have a capable [team boss] Christian Horner and then you have the shark, Helmut Marko.
“Then you look to Mercedes: Toto [Wolff], very capable, you have the genius on the engine side, Andy Cowell, and you have Niki [Lauda], who unfortunately is not here right now [as he recovers from an illness].
“At Ferrari, you [only] see Binotto and I don’t know if this is enough.”
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Berger’s main concern is whether the extra tasks in both roles is diverting the Swiss’ focus on developing the 2019 car.
“I think Binotto is a great technician, it’s just [important] he doesn’t use too much time for maybe political discussion or whatever,” he said.
“And then he is running out of time for the main [task of improving the car].”
In mentioning the three-man setups at Red Bull and Mercedes, it also wasn’t lost on Berger the success the Scuderia had when Michael Schumacher created a trio of bosses upon his arrival in 1996.
“One of his [Schumacher’s] big strengths was he knew how to put people together to get the maximum out of them,” he recalled.
“When he went to Ferrari and said, ‘Ross [Brawn], you’re coming with me, Rory [Byrne], you’re coming with me.’ In this, he was very good and in this, he has an advantage over Sebastian [Vettel]. Michael was fantastic in collecting people for his team.
“Again you had three people: you had Rory, the genius of the time, you had Ross, and you had Jean Todt, who dealt with the political side and the regulations.
“I just don’t know who is going to take certain roles in Ferrari because if it’s all on Binotto, it’s gonna be a bit heavy.”
