Feisty Ferrari: We could still leave F1
December 28, 2009 by SJ Skid
Filed under People & Events, Top Story
Ferrari chief Luca di Montezemolo continues to throw down the gauntlet, this time in a wide-ranging interview with a handful or so motorsport journalists; Autosport seems to have the best wrap-up, which is no surprise.
Below are some of his key comments; as always, add your reactions below.
“I want F1 to improve between now and 2012, when we sign a new Concorde Agreement, and if not we will have motivation somewhere else.
“I have been to Le Mans and I was impressed. We cannot accept huge gaps between drivers and the press and public. In the past the pits was full of good looking girls, now it’s like a concentration camp. And we need to overtake!”
First off, Luca is channeling Bernie and Max there a bit with the concentration camp analogy. Why are public figures still dumb enough to touch hot button topics? I don’t get it. Just say: “In the past the pits was [sic] full of good looking girls, now there are none.”
Or, even better, avoid the sexism all together and not mention the girls.
Beyond that, I think we can expect Le Mans to continue to be used in the F1 power game, and rightly so. The Audi-Peugeot battles really have raised Le Mans profile again.
And, yes, Luca: More overtaking!
“There are a lot of answers needed. We need good people at the FIA. [FIA president Jean] Todt is a good person and knows F1, and I’m sure his priority is to recreate a different dialogue and atmosphere. Bernie [Ecclestone] is coming to the end of his career, but I am sure he will look ahead. And FOTA has been very useful. There needs to be a strong triangle between the three parties.”
Todd and Grace both have wondered whether FOTA’s role is going to fade; from the sounds of this, we might be spreading rumors of its demise a bit early.
We don’t need to talk about who Todt will be different from, do we?
“I think it needs to encompass extreme technology, performance and research. Secondly, we need to save costs without losing the appealing elements. Carbon brakes, for instance, are impossible to use with road cars and we can accept a standard gearbox without losing F1 characteristics.
“Not being allowed to have Felipe [Massa] test a car, for me, is against the very nature of the sport. For the moment, I understand, but it’s not the future. Thirdly, to replace manufacturer teams with teams that I don’t know if they will be ready or in what condition, I don’t think is best.”
Here’s Luca going out on a limb to suggest F1 should be about extreme technology. What a novel concept. [I'm not among those who think extreme technology and "green" technology cannot co-exist. There just needs to be some smarter thinking about how to incorporate both.]
Will Peter Windsor feel the need to respond to the comment about teams not being ready?
“Years ago we could test every day, now not at all,” he explained. “You need a balance. It’s like in Italy, one day the doctor is smoking while he’s doing an operation but now, if you smoke in the street, you’re killed. We need something in the middle.
“We also need to look at the show. I’m not making strong points here, but is it right to run in Europe at 2 or 3 o’clock on a summer afternoon? I don’t know. In soccer they play at 4 or 5pm, or at 8 or 9pm. Is it right that we have two hour races? Maybe they are too long. These are things we need to discuss.
“Should we have such expensive tickets? Today a young boy with his girlfriend can fly around the world for less than attending the Monza GP in the best seats. Is that right? I don’t want to be arrogant or presumptuous, but I want to have professional instruments to look into it.
“I can accept if some manufacturers have left the sport but I think F1 at the beginning of the 2000s has been the best in terms of the public and spectators, with new venues and promotion and investment from the car manufacturers.”
All good points, although I’m not convinced that the race starting time or the length are core matters of concern. Fan engagement, the technological side and the quality of racing — which means a balance between wheel-to-wheel battling and cheapened overtaking — strike me as more critical.
But at least Luca is beating the drum.
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“In the past the pits was full of good looking girls, now it’s like a concentration camp.”
Is Luca Missing Flavio? This is in continuation with VMR’s New Year Resolution Article :D
Jokes apart – Indeed F1 acts uptight and common fans don’t get more access to their their favorite teams and drivers during race weekend. And Yes the ticket prices are really spiralling out of control.
one week, that’s all I need, one week of no shockers, stunts, FOTA, FIA, FOM, Bernie &/or Max.
That said, BRAVO Luca.
Some of his points (minus the concentration camp) are valid but when Luca DiWeeniemeister threatens to pull ferrari out of F1 if he doesn’t get his way it weakens his stance, clouds the issue and draws the focus away from where it should be. should tickets cost less- Yes should there be some testing – Yes Should the man who lost Michael Schumacher to Mercedes be making these comments right now … NO let stefano handle it he is your team principal.
i don’t know why he complains about new teams coming in,those manufacturers left because they wanted to,he acts like there are manufacturers being kept out because the new teams are coming in,i think he should be thinking more about getting his team back to the front of the grid,than what the new teams are doing,he seems to think every new team should a car manufacturer,don’t think there is any car manufacturers lining up to get into f1 right now with the economy in such bad shape,fota is weakened because of that, and he knows it
Reality show idea:
The Bachelor Driver
I’ll watch for the racing, while moms, wifes, girlfriends and sisters will watch for the love triangles. No elimination, but points will be awarded for various things, bad or worse. It should be a championship running in parallel to the FIA sanctioned one.
Well what to you know i actually agree with Luka about the beautiful girls thing. We should put sexy girls giving the trophies to the winners not those old politicians or whatever they are. And the girls in frond of the cars are too decent along with the cameras that almost never show them to us. Sexy girls always sell. There is a very good reason magazines and almost every TV show uses them. Don’t worry we never get bored of watching them.
Now he is also right about the tickets and we all know it because it hurts our wallet. I don’t agree about the manufacturers though. They left on there own.
But what i can also see is that despite making some good points basically is nothing more than a thread to the FIA to tell them to make sure he is happy. If his team was winning i think he wouldn’t say anything. But it looks like the cooperation with the FIA that gave them absolute power to do whatever, along with making the rules of racing is not like it use to be and so now he resorter at throwing threats. He wants Todt to make sure the red cars are winning and his afraid that might not happen and he will have to do it simply by working hard.
You know i think Ferrari should leave the sport for one or two years just so that everyone would realize that nothing is gonna happen and the show will go on. Ferrari is NOT F1 no matter how much they insist to say so. No team is.
Very interesting article.
I can’t see Ferrari leaving F1 anytime soon.
F1 needs to make changes sure. Reducing the cost to consumers is paramount. What upsets me most is how little time the cars are on the track. DO NOT dare shorten race lengths, and add more practice time on Fridays and Saturdays plus re-introduce Sunday morning’s pre-race warm up. The teams are there at the track give them as much time as need to test and set up, run new drivers etc.
What it costs to go see a race for the amount or time we actually see F1 cars driving around, we’re being gouged. Personally F1 is about the drivers driving.
Yeah if they make the races any shorter, lots of angry fans with fire sticks are going after there ass. And am probably gonna be one of them.