It was the summer time of 1996
“Once I hear speak about eliminating Todt, it makes me snicker. Solely somebody who doesn’t know easy methods to assume may provide you with one thing like that. If you wish to destroy Ferrari, then sure, do away with Jean Todt. However I’m satisfied that this concept got here solely from somebody within the press. I discover all of the fuss made about what occurred fairly shocking,” thundered Michael Schumacher in July 1996, after the disastrous French Grand Prix the place his Ferrari engine went up in smoke in the course of the formation lap.
Tales of yesterday, tales of as we speak, cyclical tales. Ten days later, Jean Todt straight addressed the criticism: “No matter occurs at Ferrari, it’s my fault. It needs to be, as a result of my place is that of the pinnacle of sporting administration. It’s my fault and it have to be my fault—I’m additionally paid for this. I contemplate myself a supervisor. My need is to remain at Ferrari, but when Ferrari desires to do away with me, it will possibly accomplish that at any second.”
And the journalists weren’t variety. In these very days, Carlo Marincovich wrote in La Repubblica: “The person is definitely disagreeable to many, he’s not charming, not sycophantic, in truth he’s at all times distrustful of everybody. In keeping with many, Maranello underneath his management has grow to be a form of reign of terror, with folks strolling round with their heads down and their tails between their legs. Some even painting him as a form of Ceausescu, surrounded by a courtroom able to carry him his slippers and wag their tails on the slightest snap of his fingers.”
Right here too, recurring conditions, a crossroads that by no means appears definitive: “However except for his temper and that of his enemies, placing Todt on trial or displaying him the door could be pointless. Worse: it might be an enormous blow to Ferrari. It could imply changing him with another person, and albeit, wanting round, the panorama is fairly empty. It could imply beginning another time, but once more, with ‘restructuring’—which in Maranello means ‘purges’, eliminations, blacklists, dismissals, punishments involving transfers to the geranium vase warehouse.”
Gianni Agnelli blamed the Italian press: “In Italy it’s at all times somebody’s fault: both Todt’s or Sacchi’s or another person’s.” A month later—in August—Luca Cordero di Montezemolo advised France Soir to clear the air: “I imagine Todt has finished a great job, although there’s nonetheless progress to be made. Todt will likely be a number one determine in our crew for a very long time to come back.”
In hindsight, in December 2023, Jean Todt recalled to La Stampa: “In ’96 there was a number of speak about my dismissal. Michael had simply arrived and will see that my plan was strong, that the individuals who have been about to affix and with whom I used to be secretly negotiating aligned with our challenge. That’s why he stepped in and mentioned: ‘If Todt goes, I’m going too.’ He undoubtedly stopped those that have been considering of firing me.”
Phrases we’ve already heard
It’s simple now to attract a parallel with the phrases of Italian journalists, of Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, and Frederic Vasseur in the summertime of 2025—up to now with out a response from Ferrari’s administration.
However tying again to those recurring phrases, to a previous that’s at all times current, right here’s a classic Fred Vasseur: “We have to concentrate on this season, to extract the utmost potential from our automobile and our technicians. We’ll determine later when the time is correct to start out engaged on subsequent 12 months’s automobile.” It was 2016, and he was carrying Renault’s yellow uniform.
And once more: “I believe for the time being we’re fairly quick on race tempo, however in qualifying we’re a whole catastrophe! Nonetheless, we have to keep calm, not react impulsively, and attempt to perceive what’s not working. We now have to be practical—we’ll have this handicap till we handle to get probably the most out of our bundle over a single lap.” Once more, Frederic Vasseur, 2020, Sauber Alfa Romeo.
The potential, the execution, the weak qualifying efficiency: it truly is at all times the identical story…
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