Luca di Montezemolo criticizes FIA: “Would Villeneuve and Arnoux have been sent to jail?”. Luca di Montezemolo contests the excessive severity of the FIA penalties.

Luca di Montezemolo and the recent controversies in F1
The controversies of the past few weeks in the Formula 1 World Championship, involving almost unprecedented penalties, rather severe sanctions, and decisions on track limits down to the millimeter, have left a mark. Luca Cordero di Montezemolo summed up the thoughts of many F1 fans during a live radio broadcast on Rai GR Parlamento. The lawyer and entrepreneur criticized the FIA’s excessive intervention, referring to the incidents in the last races of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

According to the 77-year-old former Ferrari president, the new judging criteria of the Federation’s stewards could risk distorting the races by taking away humanity from the drivers and depriving the spectators of particularly exciting moments. He even recalled the historic and unforgettable 1979 duel at Dijon between René Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve, which would likely have been severely penalized by the Race Director today.

Luca di Montezemolo’s opinion
“Formula 1,” said Luca di Montezemolo, “should always be about healthy duels. What would the stewards have done today to Villeneuve and Arnoux? Would they have sent them to jail? I think it’s being exaggerated, both in terms of judgment on contacts and in watching the track lines. In other words, F1 is becoming a precision clock. We should instead leave more room for emotions, courage, and the skill of the drivers, rather than being obsessed with millimeters. This is one of the areas where I believe there should be some reflection to change things a bit.”