Will Simone Resta return to Ferrari?

After the resignation of Mattia Binotto, the Ferrari team found itself in a difficult situation: according to Gazzetta dello Sport, Maranello is still unable to decide who will lead the Scuderia and what needs to change with the arrival of a new leader.

The main contender is still Frederic Vasseur, who now heads Alfa Romeo, but there may be several more names on the list of possible candidates that are still unknown. Formally, Binotto’s contract expires at the end of the year and the position will be released at the beginning of January 2023.

During the transition period, the duties of the head will be entrusted to Benedetto Vinho, Ferrari’s general manager, who attended the team’s technical meetings during the past year and will now be responsible, among other things, for the sporting aspects of Ferrari. it functions.

Vasseur has an excellent relationship not only with John Elkann, the president of Ferrari, but also with Carlos Tavares, the CEO of the Stellantis car group, and according to the newspaper, the experienced French manager began to be considered in the summer, when Elkann thought about replace Binotto.

The irony of fate is that it was Binotto who created and strengthened the structure of the team’s technical department, which still works quite effectively: Enrico Cardile is responsible for the development of the chassis, David Sanchez is responsible for the aerodynamics, Enrico Gualtieri is responsible for the power plants. It is unlikely that the new leader, whoever he becomes, will immediately start making serious personnel changes.

It makes no sense to do this also because Maranello has practically decided on the concept of the 2023 car, and all this work is carried out under the guidance of the mentioned specialists. But an additional complication is that Mattia Binotto combined the duties of the team’s head and technical director, which is why, according to the author of the text in Gazzetta dello Sport, it would make sense for Simone Resta to return to the Scuderia.

Resta worked in this capacity at Alfa Romeo during Charles Leclerc’s short spell there, then briefly returned to Ferrari before moving to Haas F1. They say it’s because he didn’t work well with Binotto.

The 52-year-old Italian engineer, a graduate of the University of Bologna, once gained experience in the Minardi team, then he was invited to the Scuderia, where he worked on the development of the chassis.

Another area where improvements need to be made is race strategy – last season this left a lot to be desired as tactical miscalculations meant more than one win was missed.

This unit is led by Iñaki Rueda, another of Binotto’s loyal associates. But also in his department there are about four dozen specialists who are stationed in Maranello during race weekends and solve tactical problems in constant contact with the team. Reorganizing this unit won’t be that easy either.