Marchionne insists he will be patient with Ferrari

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Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne insists he will be patient with the team's new technical line-up following the departure of James Allison this year.

Allison left Ferrari at the end of July having formerly been technical director at Maranello, with Mattia Binotto taking over the role. The change came in the middle of what ultimately proved to be a winless season for the Scuderia, with the team having originally been targeting a championship assault in 2016 after three wins the previous year.

Marchionne believes Binotto's experience - having previously been Chief Operating Officer, Power Unit - stands him in good stead to lead the technical team and says he has been encouraged by what he has seen so far but is willing to be patient.

“I think the change in August represents the beginning of the refounding of our sport management," Marchionne said. "We need to give the guys time: they are working very well and we will see what they bring us, but I believe this is the solution.

"I have utmost faith in Mattia Binotto, for what he has been able to do in his career with Ferrari and what he is doing now managing the technicians."

Ferrari finished 2016 in third place in the constructors' championship with 398 points, some 70 points adrift of Red Bull. The team is set to continue with the same driver line-up of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen for a third year next season, with Vettel playing down links to the vacant seat at Mercedes.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.