Ferrari: The Passion and the Pain

COPYRIGHT

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 1997

© Jane Nottage 1998

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Jane Nottage asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780002188876

Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2014 ISBN: 9780008119287

Version: 2014-10-24

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to Paul Wiget, with thanks for four wonderful years and with much love for a very happy future for him and his four lovely children, Phil, Isobel, Kevin and Anna, and Phil’s beautiful girlfriend Anette.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Foreword by Niki Lauda

Introduction

1996 SEASON

Chapter One THE LEGEND LIVES ON

Chapter Two ON A WING AND A PRAYER

Chapter Three THE SUMMER OF DISCONTENT

Chapter Four THE ROAD TO VICTORY

1997 SEASON

Chapter Five NEW BEGINNINGS

Chapter Six WINNING WAYS

Chapter Seven A COLD SHOWER

Chapter Eight THE FIGHT BACK

Chapter Nine SEPTEMBER DOLDRUMS

Chapter Ten IN THE DEEP MIDWINTER

1998 SEASON

Chapter Eleven THE 1998 SEASON BEGINS

Chapter Twelve A WINNING COMBINATION

Chapter Thirteen MID-SEASON BLUES

Chapter Fourteen AN UPTURN IN FORTUNES

Chapter Fifteen THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

Race Results for 1998

Picture Section

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About the Publisher

Foreword

by NIKI LAUDA

Winning one World Championship with Ferrari is a special feeling. Winning two is simply unforgettable. Enzo Ferrari, like his cars, came out of a unique mould. He was sometimes difficult and intransigent, but above all he was the driving force behind one of the greatest racing teams of all time. We had some memorable run-ins during my four years at Ferrari, but my respect for this giant of motor racing and what he accomplished eclipses all else. Having later started my own company, Lauda Air, I understand the effort required to build up and maintain a successful business.

There are many good memories from my time as a Ferrari driver, but one or two are outstanding, such as the first time I won a Grand Prix with Ferrari. It happened at Jarama (in Spain) in 1974 and after this I understood what it was like to feel the warmth of the passionate tifosi, who were overjoyed.

Winning my first Formula One Drivers’ Championship with Ferrari was one of the highlights of my life. When it actually happened everything seemed to go by in a flash – the celebrations, the victory dinner, meeting the fans. But at the end I was left with an intense feeling of happiness, which I will never forget.

I was fortunate enough to have Luca di Montezemolo as my team manager when I won that title in 1975. As well as a being colleague, Luca became a friend and when he returned to Ferrari in 1992 as chairman, I became a consultant to help rebuild the fortunes of the team.

Luca is a brilliant strategist and visionary. He recognized the need to employ the right people in the right places, and over the last six years he has done just that. The result is that the Ferrari Formula One team has been able to show in the last two years particularly that it is once again a serious contender for the Formula One World Constructors’ Championship.

That kind of action takes courage and perseverance, particularly in a company like Ferrari, which is quintessentially Italian in its approach and its methods. Politics and intrigue have always played a part in the management, and it isn’t easy to cut through that and prepare the company for the future. To that end Luca has done a brilliant job, as have all the members of the team – especially Team Director Jean Todt and Michael Schumacher, who is the best racing driver of his generation, and the talented and competitive Eddie Irvine.

Above all, one must never forget that Ferrari is a team made up of different nationalities and personalities, and each and every one of them plays an important role. A racing team works under constant pressure, so the most junior mechanic is as important as the most senior manager in that they must all execute their jobs efficiently and quickly.

This book is unique in that it offers the reader a glimpse of what life is really like working for one of the most glamorous and enigmatic teams in Grand Prix motor racing; and, for the very first time, the sweat and toil and the passion and the pain of being part of Ferrari can be observed at close quarters.

Niki Lauda, Vienna, 1998

Introduction

The sound is unmistakable. A deep throaty roar leading to a high-pitched whine. It’s another day, another country and the millionaire boys are playing with their favourite toys. Round and round they go, darting in and out like multi-coloured insects engaged in some ancient ritualistic dance.

Bearing the names of their sponsors like proud warriors they automatically draw attention from the small groups gathered on the slopes overlooking the circuit. National flags wave in the breeze and the onlookers express their delight as their favourite drivers pass by. The cars in their distinct livery, each driver locked in his own private race to go ever faster, dance over the tarmac – gold, grey, black, white with a tartan strip and light blue.

The circus continues, and then from the distant pits another sound is heard and the crowd stirs in eager anticipation. A guttural battle cry is followed by a roar of power as the V10 engine propels the car down the pit lane and onto the glistening track. A flash of scarlet as the founder member of Formula One motor racing joins the rest. Anticipation changes to raw passion, and the fans erupt at the sight and sound of the bright red car driven by the supreme warrior himself.

Michael Schumacher is in a Ferrari. Individually enticing, together they are an unbeatable combination of power and emotion. The brilliant German driver in the car that stirs the heart. Among a family of beauties the Ferrari stands head and shoulders above the others. And not just in Formula One. From the boardrooms of Manhattan to the deserts of Africa, owning a Ferrari is the embodiment of many people’s hopes and dreams, something that represents escape, beauty and the good life. It has also transcended the role of being a mere form of transport and become a focus for the emotions of the whole Italian nation. When Ferrari does well the nation dances, when Ferrari does badly the nation cries.

But what is it like to carry the hopes of a nation? To be responsible for the intangible feelings that ebb and flow around the stable of the prancing horse?

Fast forward to 1998. Dateline: 13 September. Place: Monza, home ground of the famous and fanatical tifosi. The scarlet cars screech past the chequered flag, first and second. Schumacher stands on the top step of the podium, Irvine on the next step down. The crowd and the team are delirious. The magical result, not seen at Ferrari in recent history on their home ground, has revitalized everyone involved. It is the sum total of the determination, effort and skill of so many people, and now everyone can rejoice that the hard work has paid off: Schumacher is back in the contest for the 1998 World Drivers’ Championship; and Ferrari are challenging once again for the Constructors’ title. Of course, as history was to decree at the climax of the season in Japan, it would be the runners-up spot yet again for Ferrari and their German wünderkind. But for now, the glory of Monza was something to behold.

At the end of three progressive seasons, the Ferrari renaissance is well underway. Plots and counter-plots are long forgotten. The pace and reliability of a small red car is what matters. Ferrari might make Machiavelli seem like an innocent but it is the only company to have perpetrated the myth of desire for 50 years, the only Formula One team that attracts a passionate, committed army of supporters throughout the world.

We stand on the threshold of a new millennium and we are still transfixed by the power and emotion generated by the need to feel we can be a part of Ferrari, maybe even one day drive one of their cars. We need to be a part of the dream even if, for some of us, that dream is as elusive as scaling Mount Everest. If the emotion is strong on the outside, what is it like on the inside? Let’s take a journey into the heart of the stable of the prancing horse and find out.

Jane Nottage, London, 1998

CHAPTER ONE

The Legend Lives On

‘Ferrari is motor racing. It is the representation of everything motor racing stands for – speed, glamour, style and excitement.’

Bernie Ecclestone

FOCA President

Once upon a time there lived a man called Enzo Ferrari. He produced beautiful cars, won many World Championships, built a company that became famous throughout the world, resided in a lovely place called Maranello, where the sun always shone and he lived happily ever after. Fairy stories. Wonderful aren’t they? They allow people to dream of a better world and believe that everything is always beautiful. The heroes are always good looking and the future is always full of hope and happiness. Not unlike life at Ferrari, or so most people would have us believe. Over the years the legend has been carefully constructed and perpetuated by the people at the stable of the black prancing horse, to make us believe that Ferrari is the ultimate dream, the legend that delivers your fantasies.

Even the famous emblem is shrouded in mystery. Folklore has it that Enzo Ferrari was enjoying success as an Alfa Romeo driver, when after yet another victorious race a man pushed his way through the crowd that had gathered round the winner, shook Enzo’s hand warmly and invited him back to his house so he could make a presentation. This man was the father of famous World War I flying ace, Francesco Baracca, who had shot down 35 adversaries before his life ended in 1918. As his personal badge, Baracca had used a black prancing horse. After his demise, his family was sent the prancing horse symbol on a piece of aeroplane fabric and it was their wish that this famous emblem should be passed on to Enzo Ferrari in recognition of his courage and talent on the race track.

There is no doubt that Enzo Ferrari was a remarkable man. In 1947 he started to produce and sell road cars to enable him to finance his racing career. He was perceptive enough to realize that if he created exclusivity there would be more demand than supply and so he built up a company that today, as we stand on the threshold of the next millennium, is still the marque that most people dream of owning and driving. He also created a Formula One racing team that has become a legend within the rarefied world of motor racing. Ferrari is a name that is synonymous with glamour, style and power.

However, being a genius who built up an empire from nothing didn’t necessarily make Enzo a wonderful person. People seem to link the two, but most really successful businessmen are single minded, despotic and completely egocentric. Enzo Ferrari was no different. He often treated staff like servants, enjoying his absolute power as leader. He kept racing drivers in their place (bearing in mind the overinflated egos of some of today’s drivers, many would list that as a positive characteristic) and he was hardly a New Man. His wife cannot have had an easy time being married to a legend. He built a house on his test circuit so he could be near to his first love, racing, and know exactly what was going on both with the car and with the team. He fathered an illegitimate child, Piero Lardi, whom he welcomed into the business after his own son died. His wife, naturally, as was the tradition of the times, would have been expected to put up with it all, plus have his dinner ready when he wanted it. He was demanding, selfish and authoritarian, but nevertheless a brilliant man, and in spite of – or maybe because of – his faults, he is always remembered with great affection by people who knew him.

Niki Lauda, who won two World Championships with Ferrari, recalls Enzo Ferrari as a man of extraordinary influence and recounts the strength and mystique surrounding the Ferrari legend. ‘Ferrari has something extra,’ he says. ‘It’s something indefinable and unique, and every time I walked through the doors of the factory at Maranello or stepped into the car, I felt the added importance of being that unique thing – a Ferrari driver. There was, is and always will be a special place in my heart that is reserved for Ferrari.’

Jody Scheckter was also ‘that unique thing’ and won the World Championship for Ferrari in 1979 – the last driver to do so. ‘I think for any driver of any ability to drive for Ferrari is a dream come true,’ he says. ‘It is still the most historic marque in motor racing. The magic of driving for Ferrari is that you’re driving for the whole of Italy, not just the team.’ Nigel Mansell, the last Englishman to drive for Ferrari, says, ‘Driving for Ferrari offers a very special experience. They are true thoroughbred racers, they only want to win and for me the reality was very similar to the dream.’

SHEER POWER

FERRARI HAS ALWAYS BEEN A MAJOR FORCE IN FIA

Behind the romantic mystique and glamour of Ferrari lies sheer, raw power. Formula One is a breeding ground for power but Ferrari is the master. Max Mosley, President of FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the sport’s governing body based in Paris) explains how Ferrari entered the inner sanctum of Formula One and became the main power broker. ‘Politically, Ferrari has always been a major force in FIA. Until the emergence of British racing in the 1960s, all decisions were made somewhere between Paris and Turin. It was just a question of which year and where the centre of gravity was. The Concorde Agreement (the Maastricht treaty of Formula One) was drawn up in 1980 and 1981, and it has a provision that when Formula One matters are discussed the vote of the President of the Manufacturer’s Commission would be exercised by a representative from the legalist’s side. The legalists were one of two factions which formed in the late 70s and early 80s. It was basically Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo, and the other faction was us, together with the FOCA [Formula One Constructors’ Association] teams.

‘FOCA had a seat on the World Council, and we found a compromise whereby in addition to Formula One having a seat on the World Council, another person who is President of the Manufacturers’ Commission has a seat. He represents the World’s Motor Industry, the big manufacturers. When Formula One matters were discussed, the legalists had their representative and historically this has always been Ferrari.’

Ferrari, in typical Latin fashion, has always been alert to the most imperceptible political currents, and it was this talent that kept it in the thick of things. As Mosley says, ‘In the 70s, when FOCA became powerful, we ended up with FOCA on one side and FIA/FISA on the other, with Ferrari as the fulcrum. It would move a little bit one way and then a little bit the other way, influencing the decisions. Enzo Ferrari was an absolute master of that sort of politics. He wanted to make sure Formula One succeeded, so he nearly always backed Bernie [Ecclestone], as he realized that Bernie was going to make Formula One into something big. However, by moving a bit towards the governing body he could obtain a more favourable position in negotiations, which was a very wise move. Now all the relationships between me, Bernie and Ferrari are very solid.’

So what if, for argument’s sake, someone stood up and said: ‘Well, Williams should be our representative as it has been the most successful team in the last five years,’ or ‘McLaren because it dominated the 80s’? What would happen?

Mosley smiles before replying with certainty. ‘Nothing would happen. It would stay as it is. Ferrari has got one overwhelming advantage and that is it was there on 13 May 1950 (the first Formula One World Championship race) and has continued to be there, and even when it wasn’t winning it has been a tremendous part of Formula One. Now it is right up at the top again. As Chairman Mao said, “Power comes from the barrel of a gun” – although in the case of Formula One power comes from success. If you’re successful and have got tradition, your political position is very strong.’

Mosley also has first-hand experience of Enzo Ferrari’s schoolboy humour. ‘Twice a year all the teams and everyone would go down to visit Ferrari, and we’d all have lunch together. Enzo would always sit Bernie next to him, and when Bernie wasn’t looking he’d slip a large piece of Parmesan cheese on his plate. According to the old man, Parmesan has aphrodisiac qualities, and he’d always say without fail “that will get the little man going”. It always made him crack up right to the end of his life.’

A clever man with a keen nose for politics, Mosley freely admits to being completely seduced by Ferrari. ‘If someone said to me you can have any job in motorsport, I’d choose to run Ferrari. I quite envy Luca [di Montezemolo, the present chairman] his job. I know it would be challenging and difficult, but then all the top jobs are. I have no doubt that it would certainly be the most interesting.’

Bernie Ecclestone, the President of the Formula One Constructors’ Association (FOCA), is the man who has made Formula One an exciting, visually entertaining sport and a business that is a commercial success. Having known Enzo Ferrari so well, he fondly remembers the old man, and Bernie’s trepidation at what might happen after his death in 1988.

‘I have many happy, personal memories of Ferrari as I had a long friendship with the great Enzo, who was always supportive of all I did. When he died I missed him on a personal level, and I also wondered what would happen to Ferrari and if it would continue in the same way. I am delighted to see that the team has followed in the footsteps of tradition and is being run in the same way by the right people, who will ensure that it grows and develops as we enter the next millennium and the 21st century.’

INTO THE FUTURE

GRADUALLY THINGS STARTED TO IMPROVE

The death of the great Enzo Ferrari in 1988 was the end of an era at Ferrari. He had been the creator and motivating force of the car company for over 40 years and now, finally, it was time to take stock and move on towards the 21st century.

When Chief Designer John Barnard left Ferrari for the first time at the end of 1989, Alain Prost nearly won the World Championship the following year in 1990 before the famous coming together with Ayrton Senna at Suzuka effectively lost Prost the Championship.

This prompted Ferrari to appoint a new heir not only to take over the running of the company but also to lead it into the new millennium. The new messiah was Luca di Montezemolo, one of Italy’s brightest international businessmen, who had already achieved success at Ferrari when he was team manager at the time Niki Lauda won two World Championships (1975 and 1977). Early on in his career, Montezemolo had been earmarked for great things by his mentor, Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli and he had moved through the ranks at Fiat. He had also been head of the organizing committee for the football World Cup held in Italy in 1990, before he had been offered the top job at Ferrari in 1992.

As well as being bright and vastly experienced in the realms of international marketing and commerce, Montezemolo was aware of the tradition and history so integral to Ferrari. He was therefore ideally placed to lead the company. It was to be a quiet and dignified revolution as opposed to an outright battle.

Montezemolo’s strategy was to get the best people in the top positions to enable the Formula One team to start winning again after a disappointing 1991 season. One of his first moves was to recapture award-winning designer John Barnard to prepare a competitive car.

Barnard re-joined his old stable on 1 August 1992, and took up the challenge of getting involved in a team that was on the edge of a new renaissance. Like many clever, successful men he was seduced by the thought of getting it right at one of the most difficult, disparate teams in Formula One, and he had enough self-confidence to think he could pull it off. In theory it should have been a happy union between a large budget and a well respected talent. But for the Ferrari–Barnard association to be truly happy it would need serenity, patience and total commitment on both parts and that wasn’t going to be easy.

It started off full of golden promise. Barnard had to gather a new team to work at the new offices in Shalford, Guildford that would effectively be the design centre (Ferrari Design and Development – FDD) for Ferrari Formula One cars. At the same time he was under pressure to produce a new car for 1993. ‘We agreed that I would take an overview and get things up and running. But within days of signing the contract, I was being asked how quickly I could do a new car. I hadn’t even got a building to work from…’

Having secured a slightly cynical but nevertheless brilliant designer and parked him in England to get on and design a new car, Montezemolo continued with his search for the right people. Previous Technical Director Harvey Postlethwaite had been persuaded to return. ‘The first time was wonderful, when I was working for the old man [Enzo Ferrari]. He could be difficult but everyone knew where they stood and he kept it all together by ruling with a rod of iron. The second time was awful. On my first day back in 1992, I realized I had made an awful mistake in being persuaded to return. There was no direction and things changed every five minutes. It was the start of two truly awful years and I couldn’t wait to get out. I used to keep a piece of paper with my salary written on it in the top drawer of my desk; when things got really rough, I would open the drawer, look at the figure and remember the reason I had returned!’ Postlethwaite sums up his feelings by declaring, ‘Ferrari is like a film star with halitosis – from afar it looks glamorous and seductive, but get near and it poisons you.’