17 Dec 2014

Ferrari chops Fry after '14 F1 failure

TOBY DAVIS

ROME, Italy - Ferrari has ditched chief designer Nikolas Tombazis and engineering director Pat Fry, two of the men responsible for creating the 2014 Formula 1 race cars.

Coincidentally, no doubt, the cars failed to win a race during the season - the first such reputational catastrophe since 1993.

The team said on Tuesday (Dec 16 2014) that structural control had passed to technical director James Allison while "Nikolas Tombazis and Pat Fry will be leaving the Scuderia".

PERIOD OF UPHEAVAL

The statement added: "James Allison... will be responsible for all technical aspects of delivering drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel as newly appointed test and third driver Esteban Gutierrez with the most competitive F1 car possible."

It's been a period of upheaval at Ferrari since Marco Mattiacci's brief reign as principal ended at the end of November 2014. The troubled Fiat-owned outfit replaced him with Maurizio Arrivabene, the team's third boss in nine months.

Ferrari ended the season in Abu Dhabi without a race win and the conclusion of a campaign that also saw the departure of double Drivers' champion Fernando Alonso. German four-times champion Vettel has been signed from Red Bull as the Spaniard's replacement.

Long-serving president Luca Di Montezemolo, a link with the team's late founder Enzo, also left Ferrari in November 2014 and was replaced by Fiat Chrysler chief executive Sergio Marchionne.

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