Anderson: Binotto I think is the wrong decision

Binotto is the Scuderia's fourth manager in five years, a technical guru replacing a marketing man at the helm of the sport's most famous team.

Speaking on stage at the Autosport Show, Anderson told the audience, "Binotto is someone who has been very good at being a technical manager. You've got to allow him to be a technical manager.

"That is a full-time job, seven days a week. It's not a part-time thing. That is going to dilute their technical effort for sure. I think it's the wrong decision. They should have brought someone else in."

"I don't really see why you would take your best technical person…and put him in a management, political position which is not his forte. Why would you do that?"

Binotto, a Ferrari engineer since 1995, is homegrown and a calming influence over the people he leads, pushing them hard but managing to get the best of his personnel as evidenced by the very good package he has provided for the Scuderia.

Arrivabene was arrogant and abrasive, perhaps a tool to hide his shortcomings, which when exposed made him go on the attack as he did after the Suzuka qualifying debacle, laying blame squarely on Binotto's division for messing things up.

Anderson continued, "You shouldn't have a blame culture, but somebody's responsible and you have to make sure you recognise why it failed and strengthen it – and that it will not matter if the Ferrari team works better if Binotto's move means the car is slower.

"You can easily throw away a couple of tenths of a second in the car and then you're scratching to get up there, be competitive and make all the right decisions."

Anderson also raised the question, "What happens at the end of 2019 if Red Bull steps between them and suddenly Ferrari are third or fourth in the championship? It could happen... his head's going to roll."

"They might lose a very good asset because they put him in a position he shouldn't be in," added Anderson.

Five days since Monday's announcement and, as yet, no word from Maranello's new team principal and only a few sentences by vice chairman Piero Ferrari to explain the changes.

The first thing on the agenda for Binotto and his cabal should be to rebuild the bridges burned with media, particularly the Italian posse with whom Arrivabene erroneously went to war.

By emerging with a team list and some sort of action plan would be apt, as for Binotto there is no more hiding behind his drawing board and sooner he emerges the better.