Marlboro chief to replace Ferrari boss Mattiacci?

After just seven months in the job, Marco Mattiacci is set to lose his role as Ferrari team boss.

Germany's Sport Bild on Saturday cited 'well-informed sources' in claiming the 43-year-old Roman will be replaced by the Marlboro Europe brand manager Maurizio Arrivabene.

Mattiacci only took over from Stefano Domenicali in April of this year.

He said on Friday that what had struck him most about F1 since switching from heading Ferrari's North American road car arm was "the intensity, the complexity but also the incredible amount of talented people that are in formula one.

"How amazing is this sport, a global platform, the visibility that specifically in my case I don't like for myself, but which is a consequence of the job," Mattiacci added.

"The level of competition, (the) aggression is really high, so a lot to learn, but at the same time I think I brought an understanding of people, choosing the right people and from here how to create an organisation for the future."

Mattiacci has overseen the replacement of the departing Fernando Alonso with Sebastian Vettel, but according to Sport Bild the Italian will vacate his post next week.

"Supposedly," said correspondents Ralf Bach and Bianca Garloff, "Sergio Marchionne was not satisfied with the Roman's work."

Mattiacci's successor, Arrivabene, is no stranger to F1, overseeing Marlboro's sponsorship of the Maranello team and reportedly already close to Bernie Ecclestone.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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