Ferrari had to oust Maurizio Arrivabene to ensure that Mattia Binotto stays with the great Maranello team.
That is what Piero Ferrari, the only living son of founder Enzo Ferrari, has hinted in the pages of Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Ferrari has axed its team boss Arrivabene and installed technical boss Binotto in his place. A new technical director has not been appointed.
"Everything happened before Christmas, then for various reasons we decided not to reveal the decision," said Piero Ferrari.
"I don’t want to go into details, also because I can only speak as a shareholder, but I only say that there was a confrontation between us members and in the end we acted in the exclusive interest of Ferrari," he added.
Piero Ferrari is presumably referring to rumours that a power struggle between Arrivabene and Binotto could have led to the latter leaving the team.
"The most important thing that we took into consideration was to guarantee the technical continuity and be able to count on Mattia Binotto’s vast competence as being fundamental to building a strong team," he said.