By alley - May 17, 2016, 12:01 PM ET

F1: Arrivabene rumors intended 'to create tension'

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene feels the recent rumors regarding his Formula 1 future were designed to create tension within the team.

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, expressed irritation at the gossip.

"I'm not listening to all these rumors," said Arrivabene. "The only objective of these rumors 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 complained about the rumors, insisting Arrivabene was doing "a very good job." Arrivabene himself further ridiculed the scaremongering by suggesting a character from the TV show Game of Thrones should have been mentioned as a potential candidate for his role.

"This rumor 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."

Originally on Autosport.com