Ferrari Is Close to Naming Binotto as New Formula 1 Chief, Sources Say

(Bloomberg) -- Ferrari NV is set to name Mattia Binotto as the new head of its Formula 1 team, replacing Maurizio Arrivabene, according to people familiar with the matter.

The appointment of the company’s veteran engineer, currently chief technical officer at the racing division, is aimed at improving performance at the unit, the people said, asking not to be named because the plan isn’t public. Arrivabene, a former Philip Morris International Inc executive, was named team principal of the Ferrari racing team in late 2014.

A spokesman for Ferrari declined to comment.

The Scuderia Ferrari team won only six out of 21 races during the 2018 season, losing the world championship title to Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari hasn’t won the competition since Kimi Raikkonen took the title in 2007 in his first year with the team.

Swiss-born Binotto, 49, joined Scuderia Ferrari in 1995 as a test engineer and was appointed chief technical officer in July 2016. La Gazzetta dello Sport reported earlier on the management change.

The replacement of Arrivabene could be a blow to Ferrari’s new Chief Executive Officer Louis Carey Camilleri, according to the paper. Both executives previously worked at Philip Morris, where Camilleri rose to CEO and chairman and Arrivabene was a vice president. Camilleri took over at Ferrari last year to replace the late Sergio Marchionne.

--With assistance from Niveditha Ravi.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniele Lepido in Milan at dlepido1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Elisabeth Behrmann

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