Arrivabene rumours made 'to create tension'

Speculation surfaced in the build up to the Spanish Grand Prix that Arrivabene was set to be replaced, potentially by technical director James Allison.

However, on the Sunday ahead of the race Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne, who was also recently confirmed as CEO, declared he had total confidence in Arrivabene.

Arrivabene, who has only been in the role 18 months after replacing Marco Mattiacci at the end of the 2014 season, was left frustrated by the gossip.

"I'm not listening to all these rumours," said Arrivabene.

"The only objective of these rumours is to create tension inside the team, and this is not helping.

"We need to focus our talent on what we are doing without listening to all of this."

Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel last week slated the rumours, insisting Arrivabene was doing "a very good job".

Arrivabene himself further ridiculed the scaremongering by claiming a character from acclaimed television series Game of Thrones was amongst those not mentioned as a potential candidate for his role.

"This rumour was also talking about somebody from Mercedes blah blah blah," added Arrivabene.

"Who's taking advantage of this? No one.

"I said the other day that the only name they forgot to put into the list, because the list was full of names, was Tyrion Lannister.

"He's maybe the best candidate, but they forgot to put his name on."