Jane Nottage - Ferrari - The Passion and the Pain

Next on Montezemola’s shopping list was Frenchman Jean Todt. Todt is an exceptionally gifted team manager, having led Peugeot to several World Championship titles in sportscars after a successful career as a rally co-driver. He was enjoying his job at Peugeot but wanted the ultimate challenge of Formula One, and when Peugeot declined to compete at that level, he was ready to try new pastures.

A small, Napoleonic character with a severe countenance but an understanding heart, the job of team principal at Ferrari was one challenge Todt was determined to see through to the end and achieve his objectives of bringing structure and organization to a team that sorely needed it.

Team Co-ordinator Nigel Stepney was one of the first to feel the benefit of Todt’s talents. He recalls how he joined Ferrari and the pre- and post-Todt periods. ‘I joined in 1992 and it was the realization of a dream. I had worked with various English teams from 1978, and everyone warned me against going to work for Ferrari.

‘They said, “It’s big, it’s political, you won’t survive.” After that, Ferrari became my number one choice. I love a challenge and it was a personal challenge for me. I thought I’d show a few people what I could do.

‘When I walked through the door, it was like everyone said it was; it was like being thrown into the lion’s den. Harvey Postlethwaite was in charge on the technical side and he put me in a “non” position, so I was there but not there. Once I got through the first year, things got better. The job evolved and I wanted to succeed, so I made it work. But what really turned it round for me was the arrival of Jean Todt at Ferrari at Magny-Cours [for the French Grand Prix] in 1993. When he arrived the whole structure of the place started to change. He picked me up and put me into a position, that of team co-ordinator, with which I knew and could grow. Jean Todt is brilliant at restructuring, and good at giving you support and confidence. If he trusts you and believes in you, he’ll give you support and make you feel strong. That was vital at Ferrari.

‘Before his arrival, it was very easy to feel insecure. Everyone was constantly trying to make you feel insecure, as they were insecure themselves. You expected the knife in your back at any moment. It was like Julius Caesar every day here. The Italians used to bunch together and it was difficult to fit into that structure. But with Todt’s arrival a lot of people were able to start work and have definite responsibilities. It was like a breath of fresh air.’

Gradually things started to improve as Montezemolo created a strategy that was designed to put Ferrari back at the top, where it belonged. But it was to be another year before Ferrari took the last step in its renaissance and employed a World Champion as its driver.

Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi were the Ferrari drivers at this time and were competent and talented, but their constant bickering did not help the team. The arrival of double World Champion Michael Schumacher from Benetton would change all that.

When Schumacher won his first World Championship in 1994, he dedicated it to Ayrton Senna, ‘the man who should have won it’. Strangely enough, it should have been Senna who joined Ferrari in 1996, not Schumacher. Former Ferrari Press Officer Giancarlo Baccini says, ‘Senna had always wanted to drive for Ferrari. Before he went to Williams he came and talked to us. We told him we weren’t ready for him. We just weren’t able to provide him with the car and facilities he needed. He was brilliant but also demanding and it would have broken the team to have a champion at that time. We told him to wait for a couple of years and then we would be ready. That would have been the 1996 season. He agreed and we continued to rebuild the team. But destiny decreed otherwise. That is not to say Schumacher was second choice. He is absolutely a world-class driver, and who knows if Senna would have joined us or not. The initial discussions with Senna were before Schumacher won his first World Championship and emerged as one of the all-time greats.’

The arrival of the brilliant German driver was almost the final piece of the jigsaw in the rebuilding of the team (Ross Brawn would arrive as technical director in December of 1996 and Rory Byrne as chief designer in January 1997). Montezemolo chose the moment carefully before taking on a driver who would demand the best in everything, and was also capable of giving the best.

At the launch of the 1996 car, the energetic Italian was full of optimism and determination. ‘Just as a football team doesn’t expect to win a major title immediately the team restructures, we have the same philosophy of making steady progress towards our target of winning the World Championship.

MARANELLO: HOME TO FERRARI

In Maranello, it is impossible to escape the influence of Ferrari. No one is untouched, and Maranello has become like an extended family of the high-profile car company. When the prancing horse is unwell, the whole town is quiet and subdued, but when it is first past the winning post, the crescendo of noisy celebration is deafening.

The Ferrari factory straddles the main road and is as much a part of the Italian way of life as eating and praying. In fact much of Ferrari’s history and tradition is centred on two restaurants: Il Cavallino and Il Montana. Enzo Ferrari had his own room at Il Cavallino, where he could entertain in privacy (a tradition that is handed down to every chairman) and Il Montana was host to the drivers when they came to town. The walls are littered with signed photographs and pieces of paper from the sons of Ferrari, those drivers and personnel who all became part of the legend.

‘Three years ago we were two seconds off the pace of the best cars; now we are up among the best. By having Schumacher as our Number One driver we are demonstrating to the world that we are prepared to do everything possible to win. Also we feel ready to make the final leap to success. If we didn’t feel ready, then we wouldn’t have brought the best driver in the world into the team.’

A double World Champion at only 26 years of age, Schumacher was emerging as one of the best drivers of his generation. Ferrari knew it would have to pay for the best, and did so to the tune of $25 million. But as John Barnard says, ‘When Ferrari signed Schumacher it was like they opened another piggy bank. Suddenly money was no object. You need a new machine? Buy it. Expand, employ the people you need and so on. It was a surprise as for the last three years we’d been told to hang tight, cut back, think before spending any extra money. Suddenly all that changed.’

Fortunately, when he met the press for the first time as a Ferrari driver, Schumacher didn’t repeat the mistake he made in his first press conference. When asked what his father did, he replied with a straight face, ‘He likes screwing.’ For once, the hacks were rendered speechless, until it was explained that in German a screw is a carpenter, someone who likes playing around with wood!

ON 15 FEBRUARY 1996 THE NEW FERRARI F1 CAR WAS UNVEILED

Another vital ingredient to the rebuilding of Ferrari was the return of Shell as a Ferrari partner, along with fellow sponsors Philip Morris, Asprey, Magneti Marelli, Telecom Italia, Goodyear and Pioneer.

The red hot passion of Ferrari combined with the cool, clinical, technical expertise of Shell is a forceful combination. Fuels and lubricants are a vital aspect of improving performance. In-depth research and development at the Shell Research and Technology Centre at Thornton in Cheshire, has led to a far more efficient and powerful engine. The engine was to be an important factor in Ferrari’s return to the top.