What happened to Maurizio Arrivabene? From Ferrari team boss to a football resignation
Maurizio Arrivabene, former team principal of Ferrari.
Running a Formula 1 team is no easy task, as many team principals — both current and former — will tell you. Some are able to continue on in motorsport, while others make waves in a new discipline.
Today, we’re going to revisit the life and times of Maurizio Arrivabene, who served as team principal for Ferrari between 2014 and 2019.
What is Maurizio Arrivabene doing now?
As early as 2012, Brescia-born Maurizio Arrivabene had been an independent board member of an Italian football club known as Juventus FC. In fact, he was promoted to the team CEO in 2021 — but it was a role that didn’t last long.
In 2022, Juventus found itself at the center of a financial scandal — namely, as a result of “financial irregularities” and “false accounting” when it came to previous transfer deals.
It all comes down to a concept known as plusvalenza, or capital gains. If a team like Juventus signs a footballer for a €100m contract to last five years, the player would earn €20m per year.
But if, after three years, the team sold that player for, say, €90m, then the team would make a capital gain of €50m — or, the €90m sale price, minus the €40m the team already spent on that player. That money then counts toward the club’s annual profits.
The problem comes in when clubs try to fudge numbers, to inflate the value of a player, or to inflate the value of the team assets to make it appear as if the club is making more money than it really did.
In 2020, Juventus and Barcelona swapped players — not as part of the same transfer, but in such a way that both teams were able to post capital gains. Initially considered a standard deal, the whole operation, as well as other swaps from other teams, came under regulatory scrutiny.
In response, the entire Juventus board resigned, including Arrivabene, who had been a board member but not a CEO during the 2020 player scandal. But the board determined that the best way to move forward from the whole thing was effectively to start over.
Since then, not much has been heard from Arrivabene as he prepares for the next step of his career.
More on former F1 personnel:
👉 What happened to Ron Dennis? Life after McLaren for the mastermind
👉 What happened to Nicholas Latifi? The new path taken after F1 career
Maurizio Arrivabene on his way to Formula 1
Formula 1 team principals come from all walks of life, and that much is true of Maurizio Arrivabene.
In 1997, Arrivabene joined Philip Morris International — the company that represents several tobacco brands, most notably Marlboro. Working his way up through the ranks over the years, he took on the role of Vice President of Marlboro Global Communication and Promotions in 2007, followed by Vice President of Consumer Channel Strategy and Event Marketing in 2011.
Ferrari has close ties to Philip Morris thanks to its longtime Marlboro sponsorship deals, and Arrivabene was a key player in managing that relationship. In 2010, he even joined the Formula One Commission to serve as a sponsor representative, ensuring that any big changes to the sport take the big brands into consideration.
Arrivabene must have impressed, as in November of 2014, he was announced as replacing Marco Mattiacci as Ferrari team principal. Mattiacci had only just joined the team earlier in the year, but Sergio Marchionne had been taken on the role as Ferrari chairman in the interim and felt Arrivabene would be a better fit for the job, citing his “thorough understanding not just of Ferrari but also of the governance mechanisms and requirements of the sport.”
Marchionne had just taken over from longtime chairman Luca di Montezemolo, and the chairman intended to dramatically overhaul the workings of the Scuderia.
The period was a fairly prosperous one; even though Mercedes stood as the clear leaders of the championship, Ferrari finished second in the World Constructors’ Championship three times and third once during Arrivabene’s tenure.
However, heading into the 2019 season, Mattia Binotto — who was serving as Ferrari’s technical director — was announced as taking Arrivabene’s place.
How Maurizio Arrivabene stacks up to other Ferrari bosses
Maurizio Arrivabene’s time in Formula 1 was brief, but when compared to the history of the Scuderia’s management, he’s one of the longer serving team principals, who were also known as sporting directors. Let’s see how he stacks up to the rest:
- Federico Giberti (1950-1951): Two seasons
- Nello Ugolini (1952-1955): Four seasons
- Eraldo Sculati (1956): One season
- Mino Amorotti (1957): One Season
- Romolo Tavoni (1958-1961): Four seasons
- Eugenio Dragoni (1962-1966): Five seasons
- Franco Lini (1967): One season
- Franco Gozzi (1968-1970): Three seasons
- Peter Schetty (1971-1972): Two seasons
- Alessandro Colombo (1973): One season
- Luca di Montezemolo (1974-1975): Two seasons
- Daniele Audetto (1976) One season
- Roberto Nosetto (1977): One season
- Marco Piccinini (1978-1988): Eleven seasons
- Cesare Fiorio (1989-1991): One full season, one partial season
- Claudio Lombardi (1991): One partial season
- Sante Gedini (1992-1993): One full season, one partial season
- Jean Todt (1993-2007): 14 full seasons, one partial season
- Stefano Domenicali (2008-2014): Five full seasons, one partial season
- Marco Mattiacci (2014): One partial season
- Maurizio Arrivabene (2015-2018): Three full seasons
- Mattia Binotto (2019-2022): Three full seasons
- Frédéric Vasseur (2023+)
Of all of Ferrari’s principals, Jean Todt has lasted the longest, followed closely by Marco Piccinini — the only two men to serve the Scuderia for over a decade.
Next on the list would be Domenicali, Dragoni, Ugolini, Tavoni, and then, finally, Arrivabene tied with Binotto and Gozzi.