THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING FERRARI
To understand how important Ferrari was (and still is) in the Italian consciousness, let’s start at the beginning – of my Maranello journey, at least. I had no fewer than four job interviews over several months before joining Scuderia Ferrari as a performance engineer for the test team in August 2000. Much has changed since then – the sheer expense of maintaining a separate team just to test seems almost unthinkable today – but one thing is fixed, immovable: Ferrari is Italy’s second religion, and the pinnacle of engineering excellence.
That’s why I applied for the job. I wouldn’t have described myself as a motor racing fan – I was an aerospace engineer by training. But to work with Ferrari was like attending a finishing school for engineers, and that’s what interested me. My first interview was with a guy from HR who talked for ages, explaining what they were looking for. Then I think he tried to catch me out by asking me to recap what he’d just said. “Basically,” I replied, “you’re looking for a technical interface for the driver.”
This seemed a satisfactory enough response for him to get on the phone and arrange the next
