Montezemolo hits out at Red Bull

2011 F1 season

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Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has hit out at Red Bull following claims the team exceeded the FOTA-imposed Resource Restriction Agreement in 2010.

Speaking at Ferrari’s “Wrooom” media event di Montezemolo said:

I have heard these stories, but I don’t know if they are true. If they turn out to be correct, then it shows that our long held view that we are against an artificial cap is the right one: it is impossible to run checks when for example, there are companies involved which can manufacture in various countries.

Plus there are always polemical situations in Formula. I am pleased to see that, after the Brawn comet and its titles which, might I say came with some technical ‘drug taking’ we then had another team taking both titles last year, one that is maybe not yet in the habit of winning: it’s part of the game and its great, but maybe when others have won 10% of what Ferrari has won, then they can also have their say.
Luca di Montezemolo

He also admitted the team’s last-round defeat in Abu Dhabi last year still keeps him awake at night. But he said it was the team’s performance in the first half of last year which really cost them the championships – and that’s what they need to improve this year.

Believe me, I often still wake up at night thinking of the race in Abu Dhabi, so it goes without saying that we must absolutely look to the future

We must make a good start, both in terms of reliability and, above all, on the performance front. Last year, we lost the championship in a first half that found us failing to live up to our expectations.

I think this will be a very interesting championship: there are a few question marks regarding the new rules and therefore we will have to wait and see how competitive are our rivals.
Luca di Montezemolo

He praised the “calmer” atmosphere in F1 politics but stressed the importance of keeping the sport at the forefront of technology:

If the teams know how to remain united and work in constructive fashion, as part of the virtuoso triangle alongside the FIA and the commercial rights holder, than this organisation has a future. When I was president, it was a different more difficult time, whereas now the atmosphere is calmer.

The fact remains that Formula 1 has to be the highest level of this sport therefore there cannot be too big a gap between the big and small teams in terms of how competitive they are.

I expect Formula 1 will remain as the highest expression of technology, of motor sport and in terms of the spectacle. There needs to be constructive dialogue between the International Federation, the commercial rights holder and the teams.

These latter have to be competitive, must be able to invest and to maintain themselves at a high level. On top of that, you need stability in the regulations so that the teams can plan their investments and in order for the public to understand what is going on.

I do not believe in the budget cap or cost control, which are always impossible to verify: reduction in costs comes through regulation changes, both on the technical and sporting front, without forgetting the links to industrial production and technical innovation for the motor industry of the future, because we want cars, not rockets.
Luca di Montezemolo

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Keith Collantine
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86 comments on “Montezemolo hits out at Red Bull”

  1. I hope that this year they have a season without controversies.

    1. Yes. But if both Massa and Alonso are both title contenders as Domenicali wishes, then they will be “forced” to use Team Orders. So what Domenicali says is a contraddiction.

      1. Anything goes this season so long as they don’t fall foul of article 151c. So let’s not start complaining when crap like Hockenheim happens again.

        1. The permitting of team orders won’t reduce complaints one iota because the only reason for the permission is because the FIA decided it didn’t want to do the fairly straightforward enforcement necessary to make the previous rules function. Also, the bad wording of the regulation means that false positives (people accused of secret team orders when no team orders, or even strategy, was intended) are very likely to occur at least once in the 2011 season.

      2. Pfft. Like they have never been been forced to undertake ‘team orders.’ No wait, that was Massa voluntarily.

    2. And without useless Monti rants. His comments on Brawns success as well as saying nobody should speak until they win at least 10% of what Ferrari did are disgusting IMO.

      1. I agree, I found that pathetic and showing him a bit of a sore loser. I hope that Red Bull have a decent KERS this year, but these “drug taking” comments from Ferrari remind me of Red Bulls constant 2009 “magic button” whine (without which I might say, Ferrari likely wouldn’t have had a single win that year). Just get a faster car guys at Ferrari, with all your history, you are able to get there on the track, come on!

      2. So anyone who’s won three titles (McLaren, Mercedes, Williams, Renault, Lotus) can complain on that logic! Also, if we mean proportionately, we should all be listening to Ross Brawn instead of Luca, because Ross is the only person in the paddock who’s captained a team that won 100% of the titles for which it entered. I’m not sure that’s what Luca meant…

    3. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      14th January 2011, 23:43

      and I hope Luca Di Montezemolo stops being such a sore-loser… I don’t really think Ferrari “lost” the championship”, it was Red Bull who won it, deserved it, and incredibly, almost lost it against Ferrari

    4. controversies? First one… Ferrari does something that many think brings the sport into disripute… Ferrari disagree and all of the ferrari fanboys at FIA HQ agree with Ferrair and they are let off. 3 years later McLaren tries the same thing and is blasted into the next dimension.

  2. What is that guy on?!!

    Pat Symonds said today:

    “The sport has been too conservative in the past, and that is because in the past one team was always able to veto the rules. With FOTA that has changed and now there is majority rule – so if 70 percent of teams think something should happen it goes. So let’s see how it works.”

    In effect, Ferrari stifled innovation.

    Symonds also said:

    “F1 needs to have that technical image – and it is a very important part of the DNA.

    “The current F1 cars all looks the same. F1 is so sophisticated, so if you opened up the regulations, and put a budget cap on it, then you would not have teams going out of business.

    “Can you police it? Of course you can. Every company has to produce accounts to the tax office and Companies’ House each year. So, if you follow proper accounting principals, of course you can do it.”

    1. Please enlighten me as to how “one team” automatically means Ferrari? The more logical conclusion from Pat’s quote is that any one team could veto a rule change, not that the power of veto specifically belonged to Ferrari.

      1. Only Ferrari had a technical regulations veto pre-FOTA.

        1. So, if you follow proper accounting principals, of course you can do it.

          Read… Ferrari have great creative accountants. Who doubts that Ferrari play by their own rules? If it’s you, you’re naive.

          1. Only British teams send their accounts to Companies House. Ferrari (along with Toro Rosso, Sauber, Hispania and the engine halves of every team bar Cosworth) send theirs to their respective home country equivalent, which will have different rules for how the accounts are meant to be submitted. The precise definition of “proper accounting principals”, although identical in broad sweeps worldwide, differ in the finer detail according to location. It would take very savvy accountants to figure out how to make the alternate divisions generated by those different rules equivalent to one another, no matter how much good faith was involved in the procedure.

            That’s before we get to what happens if a Dutch team ever re-enters F1 (it is unclear if it would be legal for a non-official/governmental third party to demand anything on condition of a Dutch company revealing its taxation information).

      2. I guess from your comment Rohan you are quite new to Formula 1. Here’s an article for you which explains the veto situation:

        https://www.racefans.net/2009/05/19/ferrari-to-present-case-against-fia/

    2. Ok, well what if a sister company provides a ‘service’ at an extremely low rate to a top team, makes a loss, but this sister company is kept going by a nice Swiss slush fund set up 5 years previously.

      You can’t police a budget cap.

      1. Spot on. The theory is nice, but in practice it won’t work.

  3. Technical “drug taking”

    ?
    Er, no. It was perfectly legal and just a bit more clever than you so you’re still bitter? Shame, Sr di M.

    Honda stopped working on the 2008 car before you did to concentrate on the 2009 rules and the successful Brawn car. I don’t think that counts as drug taking, I’d call that well prepared and inventive engineering. And you copied the double diffuser as soon as you could.

    1. “reduction in costs comes through regulation changes,”

      That’s so funny it hurts. LOL

    2. He lives in his own deluded world. Maybe he’s the new Max Mosley?

  4. …maybe when others have won 10% of what Ferrari has won, then they can also have their say.

    Just because your team has been around a long time doesn’t make it a better team. McLaren has a higher percentage of wins than Ferrari, and Williams has a higher percentage of polls…

    1. Luca prefers to get histerical about these things…..sorry…..historical about these things.

    2. Ferrari 812 starts 215 wins 26.47%
      McLaren 684 starts 169 wins 24.70%
      Williams565 starts 113 wins 20.00%

      Ferrari 812 starts 205 poles 25.25%
      Williams565 starts 126 poles 22.30%
      McLaren 684 starts 146 poles 21.34%

      1. GPGuide.com who’ve been keeping stats on these kinds of things for decades have Ferrari at 11.9%, McLaren at 11.92%, and Williams at 10.24%. For poles it’s Ferrari at 11.34%, McLaren at 10.3%, and Williams at 11.42%. I’m not quite sure how those figures were arrived at, but my guess is that he’s counting both cars from each team in total starts. The numbers you listed above as starts were actually grands prix contested, which is a different number than starts as most grands prix had two cars starting for each team. Either way though, Ferrari should be proud to count themselves in the company of McLaren and Williams rather than preaching their superiority in such a condescending manner. I don’t dislike Ferrari, but I can’t stand Mr. di M. I hope he moves on to Italian politics so we can have a little less of his posturing in F1.

        1. either way mclaren and williams should be very proud that are almost there but not there with Ferrari.

          1. Williams won 9 Constructors Championships in their 33 year history, McLaren 8 WCC in their 45 years. Ferrari won 8 WCCs in the 10 year period from 1999 to 2008 plus 8 more in the 53 years since the Championship was establtshed in 1958.

          2. That’s 30.18% btw

        2. I think thats the sound of Italian politics right now. I cant imagine what their media culture is like with a man in power who virtually owns the majority of the press. berlesconi is a joke, he makes Luca look like a schoolboy.

    3. I don’t know where are you from but if you from USA ( I guess ) you better stick with Nascar.

      I suggest you better check your sources.

      regarding higher percentage of mclaren versus ferrari
      ferrari 811 starts 214 wins 26.38%
      mclaren 685 starts 169 wins 24.67%

      regarding williams highers polls which I guess are pole positions

      ferrari 811 starts 205 poles 25.22%
      williams 539 starts 126 poles 23.37% (not including Frank Williams Racing Cars starts).

  5. A good start to 2011 would be for Alonso to have a shave.

    1. No, please don’t Fernando. I think he looks really the flamboyant brigand we are missing in F1.
      A lot better than all those scruffy beards sprouting from drivers all over the grid lately.

      1. Nothing wrong with a bit of a beard! Well, I do like the honest mustache on Alonso, even if it slightly reminded me of Mario Brothers; It is a lot better than all the half shaved looks, I agree.

        1. Agree with you there – either go for a proper mo or beard or go clean shaven, but no 3 day growth. You are wearing a helmet, its not like you are playing a summer outdoors sport (like cricket) where the 3 day growth will protect you from sunburn

    2. I think Alonso has one on the off-seasons because he’s allowed to. His sponsors and companies he’s respresenting would want him to be as presentable as possible during the season, so if you pair that with the fact he’s only had beards on off-seasons…

      I agree fully with BasCB. What happened to all F1’s hairy faces eh?

  6. Maybe this year they can even get 2nd in the constructors’ championship.

    1. Or they might just win their 17th WCC, which would be their 9th in 13 years.

      1. Most of which they did with an Anglo-Germanic figureheads… Don’t get me wrong, I think Ferrari are and have usually been a great team, and F1 is better for it. But Luca’s the voice now, and to be honest it’s embarressing. I mean.. The Horse Whisperer? What a load of old pony.

        1. Ferrari is a very very different team now than it was 10 years ago…..

          I hope Luca realises Ferrari is only powerful now due to others hard work, Like Mr Brawn’s determination which he is so eager to insult.

          Ok really, I could rant for hours about his latest ramblings, I won’t because it would be cruel on you guys… But I can’t even call him a joke any more… Pathetic.

          Montezemolo needs a good punch to the face.

          Pete said that, and I don’t agree. Unless there was a high chance that it would bring him to his senses…. But I doubt he has any left.

          1. He’s ‘Standing on the shoulders of giants’ as Newton once put it. LDM is under a lot of pressure to maintain that form factor, as it directly relates to the perception of their overpriced motorcars.

  7. Montezemolo needs a good punch to the face.

  8. I’ll stop short on wishing Montezemolo a slow and painful death but couldn’t he just shut up and crawl back under his rock now?

  9. Luca’s got it pretty much spot on, as much as dislike him. Red Bull do need to learn some respect: respect for other teams, respect for the fans and respect for the rules. Cureently, they seem to be ignoring all three.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      14th January 2011, 23:48

      Why? Yeah they disrespected all when RB outperformed the rest and won a championship?

    2. List your cases when they’ve ‘disrespected’ cos I’m struggling. I’m not an RB fan, but I can’t see any team in F1 remotely as obnoxious as Lucas outfit. RB just play the game very well. Better than anyone else at the moment.

      1. Wow.. RB being disrespect.. Still waiting some list here..

    3. Adrian Newey is one of Red Bull’s main guys… He also happens to be one of the greatest contributors to the sport. He has achieved far more than Luca has.

      Luca should learn some respect.

    4. you’re a funny guy!

      RB need to learn how to apply team orders?
      RB need to learn how to **** off an entire country by getting a 1-2 wrong in the states?
      etc etc etc

  10. What all non Italians have to understand is that LdM does not only speak as the president of Ferrari, he is one of the biggest political figures in Italy and when other team bosses say anything they only do so as that. He has been a very charismatic character in Italy (not always liked) but he has status outside F1. Apart from saving Ferrari in the 70’s I have no great affection for him but I just don’t understand the crap he gets outside Italy. The world is full of news sites, blogs and forums where people spout out rubbish day after day but when LdM says anything (which mostly I disagree with) he is slaughtered. Our sport has become anodyne enough and need many more like him to continue to talk rubbish and get away from the corporate rubbish the will eventually destroy it.

    1. I think that’s your reason right there. LdM is the chairman of all of Ferrari, and until recently the head of Fiat as well. He’s not the boss of a small F1 team. So people are going to watch what he says very critically.

      Plus I don’t think any of the other captains of industry who are involved in F1 shoot their mouth off nearly as often as LdM does.(I’m thinking of Tony Fernandes, Vijay Mallya and Richard Branson here)

      1. As far as I can see, none from F1 after Mosley left. Bernie just makes fun once in a while.

  11. when others have won 10% of what Ferrari has won, then they can also have their say

    So Ferrari are the only team with any right to say anything?

    Shut up, Luca. Just shut up. I might not be a Ferrari fan, but I do acknowledge that Ferrari have a history with the sport. That history isn’t coming under threat from other teams winning things, but from the people inside who make statements like this.

    I would not be surprised if Ferrari leaked the documents about Red Bull’s supposed violation of the RRA in order to limit their say in shaping the rules ahead of 2013. It was a vague suspicion until about ten minutes ago; statements like this only make me suspect them more.

    I guess it’s just further proof that Formula 1 can survive without Ferrari.

  12. Dusty in California
    15th January 2011, 0:39

    Montezemolo comes across as a really unpleasant person. In fact, everything about Ferrari’s F1 PR is a disaster: privileged, grumpy, petty and bitter comments coming from the President and team leadership on down to the drivers. I’m certain they’re a passionate bunch of perfectionists (and I’m also sure the the language barrier doesn’t help), but they really need to work on the image they present to fans and media.

  13. His talk of a “virtuoso triangle” makes me think he is a bit of a goose. I’m sure he is very proud of his team, but it’s still a sport, and pride goes before a fall.

    p.s. Do the cigarette company still sponsor Ferrari? There is not even the old symbolic advertising on the cars now.

    1. Ferrari are all but blinded by their own pride.

      They gladly have rafters in their own eyes when they try to extract the proverbial straws from others.

      “Maybe we did go they budget limit” what a crock of…. He knows his companies bsiness because that’s his job. They are so full of it, they’re like a 30stone fat man acusing others of being a bit chubby. It’s a joke.

  14. I can’t stand ferrari’s ‘we are the big guys here cos we’ve been here the longest’ attitude. I can’t stand them as a team and I’m glad when they don’t win championships. I don’t really count them when they do. They think they are royalty and all but own F1 and as such everything should go their way. It stinks.

    On the other side of the coin, it raises the anti and makes the whole game more meaningful because of their royal selfishness.

    So, while I can’t stand them, I’m glad their about, because the whole game is more weighty

  15. “I do not believe in the budget cap’…. Read: we have great accountants who are highly paid.

    1. Or, more accurately: “the more money we spend, the faster we’ll go, and we’re not going to give that up for anything”.

      1. Yeah pretty much that.

  16. Montezemelo should be fired by FIA ordering tirades Ferrari. He is singlehandedly breakin article 151c and bringing the sport into disrepute with his comments

    1. How can you be fired by someone who doesn’t employ you?

      1. Indirectly, through offering Ferrari the choice of symbolic removal of the perceived cause or expulsion of the team from F1 entirely. Since Ferrari would probably end up concentrating on some other FIA-regulated motorsport instead (be that a direct one such as the GT1 championship or an indirect one like LMS), the FIA still gets the benefit of their presence – it would simply need to rejig its strategy a little if Ferrari called its bluff. The FIA has its finger in such a large proportion of the motorsport pie that it has the power to let Ferrari go off in a huff and still retain a certain control over its behaviour.

        To be honest, the number of times the FIA’s representatives have managed to breach 151c as individuals (let alone as a group) makes me laugh whenever they suggest applying it to anyone else.

        1. A sort of unlcean-hands defense then from Ferrari against FIA :)

  17. Before everybody starts loosing there mojo over this id jus like to point out that Mr L Di M comment on winning 10% thing is directed to helmut markos recent quotes about ferrari trying to steal there team spirit.the comment is definetly not directed to mc laren or williams.I really like the red bull team but i do think Helmut marko is a nut job.Lucas comments are perfectly inline i feel.red bull has won for the first time the wcc and wdc this year,but helmuts ego seems as if he thinks he has won 16 wcc or 8wcc for that matter.

    1. That is a good point. Still, since Marko is such a tool, why not just ignore him or make a tiny joke at most, and then forget about him – much more effective, and not nearly as embarrassing for Ferrari fans, I think.

  18. FOTA are currently looking at Red Bull’s accounts and there is already the suggestion that they have overspent. So, to say that forensic accounting is impossible to do, just makes Luca’s comments all the more stupid.

    I wonder what else he can find to have a good old moan about?

    1. The fact that we don’t have a result yet, six weeks after the point where the 2010 results were sealed, proves that forensic accounting is impossible to do in a F1 context. Not only is there not enough time to do it properly before the start of December of the year in question, but the other teams don’t even get enough information to make an accusation in that timeframe…

      1. The 2010 seasons expenditure would influence how much you had to spend during the 2011 season. If you overspent in 2010, then you have less to spend in 2011. That is how it works.

        1. The whole thing is made so much easier than normal accountancy forensics, because you already know whose accounts you’re going to be looking into long before they are suspected of any wrong doing.

  19. Goodness this guy lacks class doesn’t he. He’s like the grumpy old uncle Wheeled out at Christmas.

    When anyone else wins the title they have cheated.

    Ross brawn highlighted the loophole of the double diffuser to the owg and nobody did anything about it.

    I have no wish to listen to this self indulgent man anymore.

    If he wants a one make Ferrari championship he should go and create one. But just stop this endless harping on and discrediting f1.

    1. i hope ferrari do start their own championships and leave formula one racing to the moaning british spectators and media.

      1. Actually I would love them to start their own too, and I have to agree about the moaning British Press in general. It’s one of the reasons why I left the country.

        However I think Torro Roso and Sauber may be upset you didn’t include them, along with HRT. 3 teams who have nothing or very little to do with Britain as far as I know.

  20. In australia we have “movember” so in november or is it september I can’t remember! men grow a moustash and people sponsor them for cancer charity, it would be great if f1 did it too, that would really show the men from the boys! Plus it would be f’n funny and very retro too!

  21. Yvonne,
    With the greatest deal of respect, all ldm does is whinge on about what he sees as taking away from f1 and how the others take away from the spectacle.

    F1 has always had backmarker teams, that is a fact.

    I want f1 to have all tiers. I love the Ferrari history in road cars and f1 but ldm should learn that sometimes if he has nothing positive to say he should think about not sharing it.

    Ferrari are a class act, but hearing him criticising brawn is lacking class. Ldm had no problem when Ferrari dominated (albeit with a Frenchman, south African and a Brit in key positions), and Michael living on the track at fiorano.

    This has nothing to do with country of origin, or British anti Ferrari.

    1. DeadManWoking
      16th January 2011, 1:25

      Ldm had no problem when Ferrari dominated (albeit with a Frenchman, south African and a Brit in key positions), and Michael living on the track at fiorano.

      This has nothing to do with country of origin, or British anti Ferrari.

      If this has nothing to do with country of origin then why are you bringing it up?

  22. Luca, Diddums!

    1. short, sweet, to the point. COTD ;)

  23. This man doesn’t half seem to talk out of his backside. Was it Formula 1 or Ferrari 1?

    No amount of grief thrown at other teams repairs making a mess of your pit strategy in Abu Dhabi. Hell, Ferrari couldn’t win the WDC when they gifted themselves (or Alonso..) an extra 7 points! Sort out your internal problems before you start on others!

  24. I love that guy! He probably didn’t intend to be funny, but he sure is.

  25. That man is an idiot. He seems to think that just because Ferrari have a long history with the sport and a trophy cabinet fit to burst, they are somehow automatically entitled to win the WCC and WDC each year.

    He sounds like a spoilt child. I mean honestly, bemoaning the Brawn and Red Bull success is just a poor loser losing poorly.

    If they’d have thought of the Double Diffuser they’d have used it from the outset in 2009 but they didn’t.

    Anyone would think they were paragons of virtue the way he waxes on. Was it 2007 when Raikonen won the Melbourne GP with what turned out to be an Illegal Ferrari due to excessive flexing being designed into the floor of the car? Just one example of many!!!

    If I was an F1 driver I would never sign for Ferrari, they are of dubious morals and principals and they are making themselves a laughing stock with their blunders and Monty’s childish rants.

    They guy is a liability and should be sacked for embarrassing the team.

  26. This man has no grace, no dignity at all. It was not due to Red Bull winning the race at Abu Dhabi that won them both titles, but Ferrari’s blundering strategic decision to bring Alonso into the pits at the wrong time. In his words, I see a man who is still very bitter that Ferrari did not win, and a man that knows deep down that Red Bull are going to be even stronger in 2011.
    Bringing in Alonso was supposed to lead to championships and to dominance of I kind Ferrari had during Michael Schumacher’s reign. This may all, in the long run, happen, but Luca has to be realistic. The 2010 Ferrari was a great car, but the Red Bull was exceptional. Two of Fernando’s victories came about due to Red Bull mechanical failures, so Ferrari were not without their lucky breaks in the season. But sounding off like this about Red Bull looks immature and worse, fearfull of what the team from Milton Keynes may achieve in the future.

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