Luca di Montezemolo warns Ferrari: “Podiums are no longer enough!”

The former president of the Prancing Horse expressed his hope for a quick return of the team “to the top of the world.”

A long road back to victory

Looking at the data, the drought Scuderia Ferrari is experiencing in Formula 1 is its second-longest without world titles. In the drivers’ championship, the last success dates back 17 years with Kimi Raikkonen, with the record of 21 seasons without a world crown—between Jody Scheckter’s 1979 victory and Michael Schumacher’s 2000 win—dangerously in sight.

As for the constructors, the record has been equaled, as 16 years passed between the 1983 world championship and the 1999 one, the same amount of time that has passed between the 2008 and 2024 victories, the current season. In short, with opponents like Red Bull and Mercedes, but also McLaren and Aston Martin, it will not be easy for Ferrari to bring home world titles in the near future.

Montezemolo urges the Red Team

And if there is someone who knows well how long it takes to build a winning team at Ferrari, it is certainly Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. He was responsible for the racing team when, in 1975 with Niki Lauda at the wheel, the first long streak of failures (11 years) was broken. And he was the president during the much-coveted world title success in 2000, but it took him 9 seasons to build and enhance the team led by Jean Todt, symbolized by Michael Schumacher at the wheel and technicians of the caliber of Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne at the design table.

Commenting for Corriere dello Sport on the conclusion of the Paris 2024 Olympics, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo also made a remark about the Prancing Horse: “What can it learn from Italian sports? To win; podiums are no longer enough. Ferrari must return to the top of the world,” said the Bolognese manager, who then recalled his energetic approach: “Once, I got into a fistfight with a race director in Formula 1!”