Hockenheim (Germany): Sergio Marchionne, chairman and CEO of both Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and Ferrari, will not return to work after suffering health complications following a surgery, Formula One (F1) team Ferrari announced Saturday. He had suffered serious complications from a shoulder surgery and his health was worsening, the team added.
Marchionne will be replaced by John Elkann as the company’s new chairman while Louis Camilleri is set to take over as the CEO.
A heavy smoker until giving up the habit a year ago, Marchionne was known for working extraordinarily long hours before falling ill. He also demanded others keep a similarly gruelling schedule, earning him the reputation from friends and foes alike for being stubborn and arrogant. With Marchionne’s exit F1 loses one of its combative key player.
The Italian earned kudos and will be remembered for his turnaround skills in 2004-05 when he saved Fiat, Italy’s biggest industrial group with a 200,000-strong global workforce, from near bankruptcy.
“It will probably make (F1 chairman) Chase (Carey)’s life a little bit easier in negotiations,” McLaren team boss Zak Brown told reporters at the German Grand Prix.
“Sergio did an unbelievable job in the whole FIAT business, he is a very outspoken character, fighting his corner hard for Ferrari.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, whose title-winning team battle Ferrari on the track but are seen as close allies off it when it comes to negotiations about the sport’s future direction, was more guarded.
“He’s a character and an important personality for Formula One. I’ve always appreciated sparring with him,” said the Austrian.
However, there was no immediate reaction from F1’s commercial rights holders Liberty Media, who ousted former supremo Bernie Ecclestone last year and are seeking to overhaul the sport.
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