Rory Byrne is new Ferrari designer’s ‘guru’ (Update)
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| Rory Byrne in 2007 |
This rumor is upgraded to 'fact' today and will send chills down the spines of Ferrari's competitors. Legendary Ferrari designer Rory Byrne has returned to Maranello to be Simone Resta's mentor and work with James Allison.
South African Byrne, 71, was a key member of the Ferrari 'dream team' of last decade, when along with Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher, they utterly dominated the sport.
More recently, he had retired to Thailand, but Byrne can now be found once again in the corridors of Maranello.
His new role is supporting Simone Resta, Ferrari's new designer in the wake of the personnel shakeup that saw the likes of Nikolas Tombazis, Pat Fry and others all depart.
"Simone is from the school of Aldo Costa, who I respect a lot," said Ferrari's new team boss Maurizio Arrivabene, referring to the former Ferrari technical boss who now designs title-winning cars for Mercedes.
"And his (Resta's) guru is Rory Byrne," Arrivabene is quoted by Brazil's Globo.
He insists that Byrne's enthusiasm for F1 has been re-fired as the fabled marque now bids to end its period of turmoil and slump.
"I talked personally with Rory and asked if he would like to get more involved with the project," Arrivabene revealed.
"To see a man of his (Byrne's) past achievements, his age, eating fast in a restaurant and barely talking because he has a meeting at the factory, really impressed me," he added.
01/17/15 (GMM) Ferrari needed a sweeping change after a "disastrous" start to the new turbo V6 era.
That is the view of Sergio Marchionne, the Fiat-Chrysler chief who last year ousted the Maranello marque's long-time president and figurehead Luca di Montezemolo.
"Luca did a great job for 23 years," Marchionne is quoted by Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport, "but we (Ferrari) had a disastrous season last year and it was time for a change."
Indeed, the team is heading into 2015 in a vastly different state, as Marchionne warns that it may be late in the 20-race season when performance starts to improve.
Nonetheless, new lead racer Sebastian Vettel and simulator driver Jean-Eric Vergne have now started work at Maranello, and more big changes may be just around the corner.
The well-connected Ferrari insider Leo Turrini claims that legendary Ferrari designer Rory Byrne – a mastermind of the Michael Schumacher era – could be set to work closely with technical boss James Allison in 2015.
"It is true that the brilliant South African never completely severed the umbilical cord," he wrote in his Quotidiano blog, "but that he is so close to the side of Allison now is a good sign."