The heaven and hell of running Ferrari

A grudging smile, a knowing nod to the ever-fevered expectations of the tifosi - Ferrari's very own barmy army, of which he was once a passionate member.

"On the one side there is a national emotion; on the other side is passionate respect," he says. "And the two are good, but they are extreme. Sometimes it's fantastic: you walk on the cloud when you are winning races. But you find yourself in hell when things are not going well."

Arrivabene is stationed in his travelling office on the upper floor of the team hospitality unit/media hangout in Budapest, as he reflects on his role as Ferrari team boss. And he knows whereof he speaks: a season ago, the giddy success of three stirring victories for Sebastian Vettel; now, dwindling competitiveness and the bombshell departure of his big-name tech director James Allison.

There's no let-up or mercy in this role, and Arrivabene, 59, will be well aware that he's the third man to occupy the Scuderia's hot seat in rapid succession. The popular Stefano Domenicali quit in April 2014 after a six-year stint succeeding the glitter trail of the Todt-Brawn-Schumacher years.

Then Marco Mattiacci fulfilled a curious 'caretaker coach' position for barely eight months in 2014, before Arrivabene was ushered in as part of a sweeping management change across Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, led by chairman Sergio Marchionne.

It's within this group, focused on building workaday vehicles for the masses, that Ferrari exists as a fabulous bauble, carried on the aspirations and romantic ideals of a global passion for those scarlet racers.

And it's precisely because of this unique heritage - and the stories of those mighty characters wrapped up therein - that Ferrari in Formula 1 is so much more than a race team; and the boss's job so much more than management by business-school textbook.

"Ferrari is a dream, so winning alone is not enough," Arrivabene confirms. "This is what people are expecting from Ferrari: not only a winning car, but a dream car."

Not easy, then, to deliver on both fantasy and fact; on romance and results. But this is the challenge. This is what being Ferrari team principal is about.

F1 Racing: When you started this job, what went through your mind? And how were you offered the job? Was it a phone call? A meeting? When you came to be team principal, who actually said, "OK Maurizio, we have something special to talk about."

Maurizio Arrivabene: It was Mr Marchionne. I got a phone call from him. I was in Switzerland actually, to see a football match. And he just said to me: "Can we see each other?"

I managed to watch the football, then we met and we were talking about everything, not only about Formula 1. At the end, he looked me straight in the eye and said: "Do you want to join me in Ferrari?" And I said "Yes." We shook hands and that was already a contract.

[A pause, and then Arrivabene bursts into laughter] The only problem was that I hadn't told my wife about my decision... But this is another story! [Arrivabene's wife was already working for Ferrari in a senior team communications role. Her husband had just become her boss, without her knowledge...]

F1R: How did that feel? Exciting? Scary?

MA: Both of them. And there was something else: a sense of determination. Because after 'exciting' and 'scary' I turned a page and saw 'determination'.

If I look back to last year [Arrivabene's first season in charge] I would have to say 'crazy', too. Because even though I have been in Formula 1 for 25 years, if I look back at last year, I am thinking that what maybe people thought was 'brave', was sometimes, I think... insanity! Because I didn't really realise the weight of this job, the responsibility. Now, though, I consider situations better.

F1R: You came to Ferrari from the marketing side of [tobacco giant] Philip Morris, who have supported the team financially for many years. That's an unusual path to the top.

MA: Okay. If we look back 25 years or so to the late 1980s, McLaren were the F1 team for Philip Morris through Marlboro. At that time the president of Philip Morris was close to Enzo Ferrari and wanted to get closer to Ferrari, so he assigned someone to them - me! I was alone, but I worked closely with the team and the relationship between the two brands became closer and stronger - something like a passion. And it was at this time that I really felt the passion of working with Ferrari.

I remember my father's passion for Ferrari and I got that same passion from him. He would watch Formula 1 with great excitement and I remember also the Ferrari P4 sportscar fighting with the Ford GT40. For my father, everything was related to Ferrari. And I started to bleed the passion for Ferrari with him.

This led me to do a few crazy things, like when I was a kid I tried to turn my Lambretta into a motocross bike. I had no money to do it, but I carried on anyway and when I did my first jump [he snaps his fingers] - BOOM! It was in pieces. My father saw this, but he never complained about the craziness or stupidity of what I was doing because we were united in our passion for Ferrari. So I grew up with that.

And then there was Gilles Villeneuve. That's where I definitively made a jump. He never won a championship but I always admired his bravery and the fact that he was a Ferrari driver. There was a magic combination between the myth of Ferrari and the bravery of the driver and I was fully into supporting Ferrari from that time, in the late '70s. So I was a tifoso, yes, of course.

F1R: That means you must fully understand the weight of expectation that accompanies Ferrari in F1 and the hunger for success from its fans all over the world. But Ferrari hasn't dominated since the Schumacher years. Are you trying to build a structure to replicate what made the team so successful, then?

MA: The game is very, very different now. The cars are far more complicated and complex than before. They [Jean Todt, Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, Michael Schumacher and co] took a while to achieve success and see the light. So we need to be passionate and believe in the people that we have and to continue our jobs. But every frame of history from year one is somehow its own story. If you start to recreate something, it's more likely that you are going to fail than you are to achieve something.

With unfortunate timing, just days after this interview was conducted at the Hungarian GP, the departure of technical director James Allison was announced. So while Arrivabene may speak with enviable conviction of the need to believe in his staff, the loss of one of F1's most highly rated technical leaders leaves Ferrari with an engineering void and a restructure to implement - the effectiveness of which will only become apparent months hence. He continues...

MA: Red Bull are coming back very, very fast - and I am happy for that because having more competitors is good for Formula 1. And Mercedes are the strongest team I have seen for the past ten years.

Some people talk about us as if we can no longer compete. But our lap times, year-on-year, are faster. It's just that Mercedes are faster still. If you are working at Ferrari and there are nine races to go, you can't say 'Okay, I give up.' That's not in the Ferrari DNA and it's not in my DNA. Our target is only to win the championship.

F1R: So how do you lead the team towards that goal? What's your leadership style?

MA: This year it's a bit of a different question to last year, because last year I was not perfectly conscious of the responsibility of being a team principal of Ferrari and I was running sometimes without thinking. Also the team made a tremendous improvement with the engine and we had three victories, so the enthusiasm went up to the sky.

This year, before running, I am studying a bit more the way to go. I take my responsibility of being in front of the media and protecting the team, because this is what I am paid for.

When things are not perfect, people might start to say "It's the drivers, it's the team principal, it's the technical director, it's the engineers..." But really, if you want to do your job with bravery, I think honestly you have to say: "Hang on, stop everything - it's me."

If you have a failure on the software, it's me; if you have a failure with the gearbox, it's me. And if you want to look at yourself in the mirror, you say: 'Okay, I'm the team principal.' And the guys in the team feel this. When they feel that they are not intimidated and you defend the team, they can follow you everywhere.

F1R: You talk about 'thinking before running', but how is that possible when Formula 1 is so demanding, with 21 grands prix this season, relentless pressure for success, insatiable media interest... how can you find time for 'bigger thoughts'?

MA: Something I suggest all the time to our engineers is to find this time. If you are going to use a bit more of your imagination and be more creative, then most probably you will find a solution that no one else is able to find. If you are too focused you can create a very good car, or a decent car at least, but never a dream car. This requires a lot of imagination, so sometimes you have to find the time to look around you and start flying.

F1R: Is it possible when you sit down with your guys to have that kind of conversation with them?

MA: I force them to be creative. It's not easy sometimes because it's not only a question of them, it's a question of evolving their environment. Sometimes we are so steeped in thinking about the racing, the hybrid engine, the next circuit, the comparison of the tyres etc, that it's not easy to find the time to look, for example, at how a bird flies... and maybe get an idea related to aero.

F1R: It goes without saying that you have a tough job, but what's the hardest aspect of it?

MA: It is to listen first... and to apply enough humility to be able to run Ferrari. Ferrari is a big brand and sometimes you have to be proud of what you are doing but you also need to keep your feet on the ground. What I have tried to do since working here is to keep my feet on the ground.

Because today you are the team principal of Ferrari and tomorrow can be great if you win with them. But whatever the outcome, in the end you have to turn to yourself and say "I'm Maurizio." And never forget that you are a person, that you are a human being.

F1R: And on the good days?

MA: When Ferrari win, a part of the joy is that you feel something special is happening all over the track. You see the flags and people in red. During the race you have been so concentrated on the headphones, that you're looking only at what's happening on track.

But then you remove the headphones and you see people jumping and screaming with happiness in a way that's almost unbelievable. I think, somehow, this is something that only Ferrari can do.