After graduating, from 1990 to 1994 he was at the
Fiat Research Centre. During this time he was involved in projects that concerned vehicle dynamics: his first job was to take care of a model of
Ferrari 348. Furthermore, he started a collaboration with Professor
Hans B. Pacejka, expert on dynamics of vehicles and tyres. Together they reached important goals in the study of tyre dynamics and after this collaboration Fainello was also known by the nickname "the rubber man". He also carried on some external projects: he was guest docent for the Vehicle Dynamics course at
Dallara Automobili and consultant for the
Alfa DTM team. In 1994 the
Alfa DTM team with an
Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI and the driver
Nicola Larini on board made history at the
Nürburgring by winning both races and bringing the
Alfa Romeo to win again on the circuit for the first time since
Tazio Nuvolari victory in 1935.
Formula One In 1995 he joined the
Scuderia Ferrari Formula One team. At first, Fainello had the role of "veicolista", the engineer in charge of the set-up on track. But after the first few years as veicolista of the drivers
Jean Alesi and
Michael Schumacher, in 1997 he became the responsible in chief of the vehicle dynamics and maintained this role until 2004. When he was in charge, Ferrari collected 6
Formula One World Constructor's Championships and Schumacher won the
Formula One Drivers' Championship five times, from 2000 to 2004. These are the golden years of the Ferrari and the team was renamed
"the Dream Team" by the press . The members of the Ferrari's
"the Dream Team" were: •
Jean Todt – general manager •
Ross Brawn – Technical Director •
Rory Byrne – Chief Designer •
Marco Fainello – Head of Vehicle Dynamics •
Paolo Martinelli – Engine Director •
Stefano Domenicali – Team Manager •
Luca Baldisserri – Head of Track Engineering •
Michael Schumacher – Driver •
Rubens Barrichello – Driver He worked closely with
Bridgestone and its Technical Director
Hirohide Hamashima until the 2007 to develop the tyres used by Ferrari, obtaining significant results. In 2004 Fainello was assigned to the development of the Ferrari simulator, a virtual system that can emulate all the car's functions for carrying out analysis without necessarily having to drive a real car. Despite other teams like
McLaren and
Red Bull Racing having initiated the use of simulators well in advance of Ferrari, Fainello was able to recover the time lost creating the first Ferrari simulator inside the
Fiat Research Centre. In the same year, as well as other members of the Ferrari
Dream Team, he was appointed
Cavaliere al merito della Repubblica Italiana by the President
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. In the year 2007 and 2008, even though many members of the
Dream Team had already left the team, Ferrari won two Formula One World Constructors' Championships and one Formula One Drivers' Championship. In 2009, as Performance Development Director, he completed the construction of the first Ferrari simulator in the
Maranello headquarters.. In 2012 he passed to the Road Car Department, as Head of Performance Development for the road cars and responsible of the project of the new driving simulator. In this role he developed the
Side Slip Control (
SSC), the flagship system of all new Ferrari road cars. In 2014 is the head of the development of the
Ferrari FXX-K, the first Ferrari hybrid car based on a heat engine from 850 hp and an electric motor of 187 hp for a total of more than 1030 hp. In the same years he also worked on the development of the chassis of the
Ferrari 458 GTE "Le Mans" and of the
Ferrari 488 GT used in the GT WEC championship where Fainello was assigned in 2013 as Head of Ferrari GT Track Car Development. In the
FIA World Endurance Championship he won 3 times the Constructors' World Cup and 2 times the Drivers' Cup. At the end of 2016 he left Ferrari to join Add-For as Partner and executive director and Danisi Engineering as Chief Technical Officer. Today Fainello is contributing with his experience to many supercar projects of most known brands. On 5 November 2025, it was revealed that Fainello returned to Formula One, under the
Aston Martin Team as a consultant for their simulator, which was an area for improvement which Team Principal and Managing Technical Partner
Adrian Newey had identified. ==Honours==