Montezemolo issues scathing assessment of Ferrari: “Focus should switch to 2022”. Montezemolo issues scathing assessment of Ferrari.

In an interview for topspeedblog, former Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo made a scathing assessment of the Maranello team’s current situation, after a very disappointing start to the 2020 Formula One season:

“In my days I had built a team with the best of the best. There were Todt, Brawn, Byrne, Martinelli, Domenicali… Formula 1 is like great international football, you don’t look at passports to win, you have to look for the best. In Ferrari in recent times the talents have left. First Allison, then Sassi and they all ended up at Mercedes! Today’s problem arises first and foremost from organisation. Ferrari has it totally different from the other teams. Mattia Binotto is too lonely. There are no other teams organised like that. Binotto, who is a young novice as technical director, is responsible for sports management, driver management, technical area and must also take care of politics. When they replaced me they told me that it didn’t matter to have positive balance sheets, they said you had to win on the track… At least in my day when Ferrari didn’t win we stayed in the fight until the last race!” – he explained.

“I see it difficult to develop the car and think about the future, also because a new nose and a wing are not enough to change the competitiveness of this car. I think it is necessary to take the situation by the horns, make bold choices and make them quickly! I’m very worried [about Ferrari] because it won’t be easy to get out of this situation because we should already be working on 2022 when everything changes. The drivers are not at fault. But I would never have cut Vettel so far in advance. Too much pressure has been put on Leclerc and it is difficult to involve Vettel now as he will leave the team.” – the former Ferrari President added.

But how would Luca di Montezemolo react to this current situation?
“You would feel the walls of Maranello shaking. I was sorry that Ferrari vetoed my Formula 1 presidency. Ecclestone had called me and I would have accepted with pleasure. My father used to say to me: ‘Whoever is jealous of the past hasn’t understood anything.'”