Alonso still waiting for change at Ferrari

MONACO (Reuters) - Nothing much has changed at Ferrari since Marco Mattiacci took over as principal of the Formula One team last month, Fernando Alonso said on Wednesday.





"Not much to be honest. I don't think it's going to happen soon," the double world champion told reporters at the Monaco Grand Prix when asked what was different under the new leadership.

"He's still learning about the team situation, the Formula One environment, the F1 weekends," explained the Spaniard.

"There are a lot of things to learn and (he wants to) get some experience before making any decisions that at the moment he will not take."

Mattiacci, the former head of the Italian carmaker's North American operations, was drafted in after Stefano Domenicali resigned in early April following the team's disappointing start to the new V6 turbo era.

The new boss, who has no Formula One experience, said last month that he thought initially Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was joking when he made the approach.

While Montezemolo has attended two of the five races so far, and has said he wants to be more hands on with the race team, Mattiacci has kept a low profile.

The Italian hid behind sunglasses on his first day in the pit lane in Shanghai, when he also held a news conference. In Spain two weeks ago, he was a largely silent presence alongside Montezemolo when the president met the media.

Alonso said life at the factory was largely unchanged too, with meetings and simulator work the same as ever.

"Probably it was expected not to have any change in the first month, because he still does not have the experience," said the Spaniard.

Ferrari have not won a race in more than a year, or qualified on pole position since 2012, and are currently third in the constructors' standings.





(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Justin Palmer)


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