Mauro Forghieri would have turned 88 in January, but the legendary Ferrari racing car designer didn’t make time for that for two and a half months, he passed away last fall. The Italian journalist Leo Turini knew him well and only now published an interview with him, recorded in October, which was apparently the last …
At that time, Mattia Binotto was still the head of the Scuderia, but people who knew about Maranello’s behind-the-scenes already understood that his era was coming to an end.
Q: When do you think Binotto went off track?
Mauro Forghieri: From the beginning!
Question: What do you mean?
Mauro Forghieri: I’ll explain now. I can’t say I know Mattia well, after all we belong to different generations. But when I got a chance to exchange a few words with him, he made a great impression. He is a great professional and loves Ferrari just like me.
Question: What was his fault in that case?
Mauro Forghieri: He was wrong when he agreed to take on two roles. He was already technical director when he was also appointed team leader.
Q: But that’s good, isn’t it?
Mauro Forghieri: No, and I say this based on my own experience.
Question: Explain…
Mauro Forghieri: To do this I have to go back half a century, but I know you will understand me. Until 1973 at Ferrari I was responsible for literally everything that had to do with motorsport. Of course Enzo Ferrari supported me, but he didn’t go to the races. That’s why I had to deal with technology, pilots, regulations, press relations – in short, everything.
Q: But you’ve dealt with it.
Mauro Forghieri: stop stop! It didn’t work, I just collapsed under the weight of all these responsibilities and when Ferrari said he had found a young man to take on some duties I was just happy.
Question: That young man was Luca di Montezemolo…
Mauro Forghieri: Yes. You can say what you want about Luka, but he did his job perfectly. It was only after his arrival that I was able to fully devote myself to developing the machine, modernizing it and solving other technical problems.
Question: This is how the legend of Ferrari was born…
Mauro Forghieri: Yes, these were the years when Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve, Jody Scheckter played for the Scuderia and the team was successful.
Question: Let’s summarize: Binotto’s mistake was that he wanted to take full power?
Mauro Forghieri: Yes, I think so. Maybe he had no choice. A proposal came from above: this way or nothing. But this was a mistake. Although there were other times. Viewed from the outside, for example, it was impossible to find out what triggered the fight between Binotto and Maurizio Arrivabene. However, the outcome of this suits me personally.
But when Binotto took over Ferrari’s racing division, he immediately had to appoint someone for the position of technical director.
Q: Someone like Mauro Forghieri?
Mauro Forghieri: Well, I don’t mind, although I’m kind of a dinosaur.
Q: Ferrari will part ways with Binotto soon…
Mauro Forghieri: You tell me about it and I believe you. But it is important that the passionate love for Ferrari never fades.
Q: You knew a lot of great racers from previous years – how would you rate Charles Leclerc against their background?
Mauro Forghieri: Charles is a very fast rider, maybe in one qualifying lap he is the fastest overall. But it seems he still has to learn how to build up the race more correctly. Keep asking for him here.
Question: Who could you take as an example in this regard?
Mauro Forghieri: Hymn. Of all the people I’ve worked with in Formula 1, Nicky was by far the best, he came closest to perfection.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
