Reviving The Ferrari Passion From Within

Maurizio Arrivabene, 58, was appointed managing director and team principal of the Ferrari Formula One team in November.

After two decades working in marketing and promotion in his native Italy and elsewhere, he joined Philip Morris in Switzerland in 1997, first as manager of event marketing and then as director and vice president.

In 2007, he was appointed vice chairman for Marlboro Global Communication & Promotions at Philip Morris International, a longtime sponsor of the Ferrari team.

In 2010, Arrivabene became a member of the Formula One Commission, representing the sport's sponsors. He was named to lead Ferrari by the new Ferrari chairman, Sergio Marchionne.

Arrivabene spoke with Brad Spurgeon of The International New York Times at the Malaysian Grand Prix two weeks ago, just before Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel won the race, the team's first victory since 2013.

Q: Is directing the Ferrari team a dream come true?

A: It was a dream that came true, because I was 20 years outside of Italy, and I said, "One day I want to go back to my country and I want to do something for my country." It was somehow part of my old job, but I never thought that something like this was coming. Now I'm happy because I have returned to Italy, where I can try to use my experience for what I define as the best company that you can find in Italy.

Q: Sergio Marchionne said he chose you for the job in part because of your "thorough understanding not just of Ferrari but also of the governance mechanisms and requirements of the sport." But directing 700 employees is different than working in marketing at Philip Morris. How big a challenge is it, and what has prepared you for it?

A: First, most of the people at Ferrari know me - because of my old job, because of my activities in Formula One. At least for the last five or six years that accounted for 10 percent of my duties. So for me going there and running one department - because Ferrari racing is just one department of the Ferrari company, even if it is a lot of people - is not a big novelty.

It is challenging, but somehow equal to what I was doing. I was lucky enough to know most of the people and to be confident within the atmosphere because I have been visiting Ferrari for 25 years.

Q: How does someone with no racing experience run the world's most famous team?

A: In those 25 years, I've seen many team principals who were trying to look like engineers and they were not. Or they were talking like engineers without knowing what they were talking about.

I think in Formula One a team principal needs to be first of all a manager: put the people together, make sure that everybody is going in the same direction, find the right balance in between, and sometimes take decisions here and at home.

You don't need to be an engineer. There are many people in the world who are leading groups or companies and they are not actually the people who are doing the projects or running the projects. They are the people who are running the company.

Q: Ferrari took a huge step forward over the winter. It feels like a different team from last year. How was this done?

A: I realized immediately that the team was dismantled in some way; everybody was thinking more to protect themselves instead of to work with each other. The first challenge was to integrate the new people and all the engineers. James Allison, the technical director, has done a great job in doing that and I am very grateful to him.

Then for me the challenge was to regain the Ferrari passion. The Ferrari passion never disappeared, it was always there. But my job was to visit all of the different departments, to stay close to the guys, to stand by them the day before Christmas, the last day of the year, to show to them, "I am here with you guys and we all have to push in the same direction."

One of the things that I said was that I don't want to hear anymore that "it's the fault of the engine," "it's the fault of chassis," "it's the fault of the aero." If we fail, we fail together. If we are going to win, we are going to win together.

And suddenly, I realized that the flame was taking life again. And now it's here. We are all going in the same direction.

Q: Ferrari is a national icon in Italy, so is it an advantage or a disadvantage for the team director to be Italian?

A: I was working outside of Italy for 20 years, so the advantage is that you bring with you a mentality that is a bit more open, broader.

Being an Italian, you really understand the conversation of the guys, because as I said before, you have top engineers, you have the people in the middle and you have the guys of the team. You need to hear the conversations at all the levels.

The devil is in the detail, and when you understand the detail you can fix it if there is a problem. Being Italian, or being an Italian with experience from a company outside of Italy, you can give the passion that you need to have working for Ferrari but at the same time the pragmatism, your experience, that you gained from your full professional life.

Q: So when does Ferrari start winning again?

A: As soon as possible. I think Formula One is losing a lot of its value without Ferrari. I think Formula One needs to see Ferrari winning again. It is good for the sport. And my hope is, and my conviction is, that we will come back, not tomorrow, but soon.

I am the kind of person who likes to keep his feet on the ground. I want to be realistic, but it is also being realistic when I say that we are going in the right direction. I know how to get there; I just don't know when we will get there.

© The New York Times 2015