FORUMula1.com

[sagi58]

Considering he's at the helm, I figured di Montezemolo "deserved" his own thread!!

[sagi58]

Montezemolo: I don’t think we can work miracles

Under performing Ferrari is turning its attention towards the 2015 season, president Luca di Montezemolo has hinted.

Having faltered at the very start of the new era of turbo V6 engines, the fabled Italian team is now a distant third in the championship, between dominant Mercedes and chasing champions Red Bull.

Maranello unveiled a car so modified for Canada last weekend that many dubbed it a B-version, but the Formula 14T still struggled at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Montreal might have been Ferrari’s last roll of the dice for the 2014 title, with more attention now to be shifted towards the 2015 project.

President Montezemolo does not deny it, saying to Tuttosport, “I don’t think we can work miracles in the short term, but we are working hard for the future knowing that what was done this year was not done well enough.

“We are in a difficult moment,” Montezemolo admitted, “but there is little to talk about and much to do.”

However, on a visit to Florence on Wednesday, Ferrari’s flamboyant 66-year-old president said Maranello is not about to stop working hard on the 2014 car.

“We must absolutely improve a lot this year,” he is quoted by La Repubblica, “pursuing this plan with determination.”

At the same time, Montezemolo said new team boss Marco Mattiacci is also looking ahead at “a very big challenge for next year, in so many areas, because there really is a lot to do”.

“In particular,” he added, “we must work on having a much more integrated car and engine next year.”

[spankyham]

IMO Monty should be listened to and not dismisses as sour grapes. Why? Because Ferrari would find it harder to walk away from F1 than any other team.

Kind of related to this, I spent a great evening in a pub in a small country town in Germany the other night. It was great, and amazing how knowledgeable the folk are on F1. I was so surprised to hear most of them saying how much they dislike the new 2014 F1, especially the engines. I have no way of verifying it but one of the blokes was telling me that the viewing audience was down this year in Germany! I was stunned to hear that, given its a German team leading the WCC and a German driver leading the WDC.

As I mentioned elsewhere, for God's sake, don't mention the Emporer's new clothes

[sagi58]

di Montezemolo may not be everyone's cup of tea; but, as you say, spanky,
ignoring him and what he has to say is pretty short-sighted. But, then again,
he's part of the Ferrari family and nothing they do/say will ever please some!!

Peccato...

[spankyham]

Ferrari's Luca di Montezemolo calls for meeting over F1's direction

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has asked Bernie Ecclestone to call Formula 1's key figures together to discuss its future, amid concerns the sport has lost its way.

AUTOSPORT can reveal that di Montezemolo has written to Ecclestone and Donald McKenzie, of F1's owner CVC, to express his 'worries' that grand prix racing is neglecting fans and sponsors and needs to react to the decline in interest.

With recent discussions between teams and F1's stakeholders having been dominated by cost issues, di Montezemolo thinks that other aspects of F1 have been ignored.

He writes that he is especially fearful that F1 is failing to embrace the new generation of younger fans, and is not maintaining the interest of sponsors.

But rather than just criticise the areas where he thinks F1 has gone wrong, di Montezemolo wants a meeting to agree a path of recovery.

In the letter, di Montezemolo suggests Ecclestone brings together F1's main stakeholders - including teams, media, television companies, and race promoters - for an open workshop to establish what is wrong and how it should be fixed.

He also believes that companies that are not directly involved in F1 - such as social media platforms and companies like Google and Apple - should be invited too.

Di Montezemolo has offered to make available Ferrari's Maranello factory for the meeting, and suggests it happens in the week before the Italian Grand Prix in September.

Ferrari spokesman Renato Bisignani told AUTOSPORT that the Italian outfit was eager to work together with all interested parties to try to improve F1's long term future.

"It is natural for Ferrari to exercise a proactive approach and discussions are ongoing at the appropriate levels," he said.

"There is a need to act collectively with the sport's key stakeholders and to reflect on the bigger picture, with constructive critics in the interests of the sport, with an eye towards technology and another one towards the show.

"Formula 1 has been built over the years into a unique marketing and sporting platform and it must now consolidate its ability to attract global sponsors, engage with fans and make racing more exciting."



FERRARI COMMITTED TO F1

Di Montezemolo's ongoing criticisms of current F1, and a potential future interest in sportscars, prompted speculation in recent days that Ferrari could even turn its back on grand prix racing.

However, the Italian outfit is wholly committed to F1 - and doing all it can to ensure it had a bright future.

When asked about the reports that Ferrari was thinking of leaving F1, Bisignani explained: "Quite the contrary.

"Le Mans is an attractive platform which we continue to monitor but Formula 1 has been Ferrari's life for over half a century and our present focus is on returning to a consistent winning form.

"Behind the scenes there is much going on and the efforts of Montezemolo, coupled by Marco Mattiacci's new leadership, are concentrated solely on this front."

[sagi58]

Again, di Montezemolo is going to be misquoted and misinterpreted, just because it suits people's perspectives.
It's funny how even the truth, in black and white, can be twisted to serve this particular purpose.

Ah, well... as a wise man once said, c'est la vie!!

[spankyham]

Luca is making some good points, I think the people that count will see that.


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[sagi58]

I thought it was inspired to have everyone at the table, including the media (including social media)!
That speaks of a man who is firmly committed to the future and understanding the present.

Ah, well... you can't expect everyone to love him or to agree with him, eh?

[spankyham]

Ah sagi, you're making the mistake of speaking to the actual points Luca raised. Apparently what you're supposed to be doing is using the article as opportunity to spew out the same old hatred you have for all things Ferrari



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[sagi58]

Ah sagi, you're making the mistake of speaking to the actual points Luca raised...

It looks like Will Gray is speaking to the actual points raised by di Montezemolo, too!!

Gray Matter: Why F1 needs to re-invent itself carefully

Recent calls to re-evaluate the Grand Prix weekend and to discuss the way the sport sells itself are long overdue – but balancing tradition and progress will require a delicate approach.

Formula One is understandably proud of its heritage, from its long-standing status as the pinnacle of automotive technology to its reputation for glitz and glamour in the paddock.

Those were the cornerstones that enabled Bernie Ecclestone to establish it as the premium motorsport category and it has remained that way despite re-inventing itself time and again.

On the technical front, super-fuels, tyre wars, turbo engines, hybrid power and active suspension, to name just a few, have all come and gone and, on occasion, come back again. But the only effect these changes really have on the history of the sport is re-balancing the competitiveness of the racing.

It is when the sporting elements start being re-evaluated that the balance between heritage and evolution needs to be tempered.

The last time Formula One decided it had an identity crisis, it spent several years tampering with qualifying and re-formatting the points scoring system in a bid to make racing more exciting, encourage overtaking and benefit teams further down the grid.

But it also devalued some elements that were great about the sport.

The idea of running qualifying with race fuel and in race trim made pole position meaningless, as it was not always the fastest car and driver of the weekend who ended up on pole.

And when the points structure first changed in 2003 it actually reduced the benefit of winning compared to coming second, encouraging drivers to coast home. When it was changed again to the current structure in 2010, it made it extremely difficult to compare historically, making it harder to reflect on the sport’s heritage.

There is, however, always an argument for change.

Until the early 1990s, not all race results counted towards the final championship points tally as drivers were allowed to drop their worst ones to reduce the unfair impact of race retirements. As cars became more reliable, however, it made sense for all outings to count.

Increasing competition from the World Endurance Championship, which has built a significant fan base since its 2012 launch, and Formula E, which is set to hit city streets around the world in a few months, means F1 is right to keep considering change.

But in doing so, it needs to stay true to its roots.

This year, for instance, the introduction of double points for the final race makes it somewhat of a lottery – and if Mercedes continue to dominate with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton trading points with one another, that extra 25 points in the ‘grand final’ may be all that is needed to win the title. How genuine is that?

The suggestion of changing the weekend format is well balanced, as running just one practice session on the Friday, late in the afternoon, would enable teams to arrive a day later and may make it easier for fans to attend.

Ideas of evolving qualifying and racing formats - with suggestions of double races, sprint races, points for qualifying, and so on - all need to be carefully thought out before being committed to.

It is, then, good to hear Ferrari chief Luca di Montezemolo calling for a more holistic conversation over how the sport sells itself, with suggestions that Google and Apple get involved to advise it on how to play in the new media world.

Because that in truth is its biggest challenge.

It is good that the sport’s chiefs recognise the need to embrace a new, younger audience – but doing so will involve more than just tweaking a race series that is not really broken.

[spankyham]

I was just thinking, image if Luca actually said Ferrari might pull out of F1

[sagi58]

You'd have a lot of chiropractors suddenly get really busy...
from having to adjust people who had been vigourously patting themselves
on the back whilst screaming at the top of their lungs, "See? I knew it!"!!

[spankyham]

Clearly they don't need him to actually say it for them to carry on as if he did


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[spankyham]

A really positive move from Ferrari, they have decided to move use titanium skid plates at Austria in an attempt to bring back the sparks that used to be so prevalent and conspicuous as the cars bottomed under heavy loads. It won't have any advantage in terms of performance, but it will add to the spectacle and bring something back that I certainly enjoyed and I believe would be appreciated by both old and new F1 fans.

Whilst I am not a fan of this idea so much (it is again too gimmicky for me), I think this is a case of Luca and Ferrari not only talking about reversing the horrible trend of lost viewers and followers this year, but actually doing something.

I believe one other team is implementing this.

[sagi58]

This next article isn't really all that complimentary to di Montezemolo; but, I think it's important, just the same.
Unfortunately, I wasn't sure where to post this in the main forum; but, since it does refer to di Montezemolo, I decided to post it here:

Uneasy feeling around paddock as F1 does some soul searching

“Decline” is never a good word to see attached to anything one loves.

The tone in the F1 paddock this weekend is one of soul-searching, as people speak openly of a sport “in decline” and requiring a root and branch refresh.

This has been triggered by the latest intervention from Ferrari president Luca Montezemolo, who has called for a summit meeting to discuss the future direction of the sport.

“Formula One isn’t working,” he told the Wall Street Journal last week. “It’s declining because [the FIA] have forgotten that people watch the racing for the excitement. Nobody watches racing for the efficiency.”

Although the Ferrari boss has “cried wolf” many times, there is growing traction for the idea that F1 needs a rethink.

Yesterday in the FIA drivers’ press conference, six current F1 drivers engaged with the idea, largely agreed that the sport needs a refresh and even proposed ideas as to how to improve things, taking ideas from other series. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso called for fans to make suggestions.

The general dissatisfaction is not new – people always have complaints whether it be overtaking, the design of the cars, the lack of access to drivers, DRS or many other factors.

Before the season started F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone was talking down his own product, criticising the show and especially the hybrid turbos for lacking soul and making the racing too confusing. Montezemolo lambasted the sport in Bahrain – ironically just a few hours before one of the most exciting races for years.

Montezemolo’s words are undermined by the perception that he wouldn’t be saying these things if Ferrari were winning, while cynics see some plot in Ecclestone’s words to drive down the share value of the sport so he can pull off some financial masterstroke.

But CVC, the majority shareholders, are too smart for that. They know they have a very valuable asset, but one that needs to be steered in the correct direction for the future. At present we have nothing but negativity coming from leading figures, talking the sport down.

Nevertheless momentum for change is palpably building; this time the soul searching seems seems to be biting more deeply.

It’s not just about engine noise and confusing the public, it’s about the whole premise of understating where this elite global motor sport series is going wrong; put simply why viewer numbers are dropping and why the under 25s are not engaging with it, raising the question of where the future audience will come from.

The answer, as everyone knows, lies in the digital world, in social media and mobile platforms. But it’s much more complex than that. It requires promotion in key markets, it needs drivers to put far more effort into building up their profiles in their own countries and also in ones which do not have their own driver, to attract in new and younger audiences.

But to make meaningful change and set a plan, you have to start from a first premise and the problem is that no-one can agree what that first premise is. F1 is a sport of perpetual change and flux. Where is the starting point?

Some would argue – as the drivers did yesterday, that the starting point is cost. It’s ludicrous for teams to spent €200 million a year, when Marussia can go racing perfectly well with €50 million. There must be a figure below €100m which the teams could get to. But the top teams have blocked efforts to rationalise and the deadline of June 30 is fast approaching for cost control measures which can take effect next year. Small and medium sized teams feel they are being led, powerless, towards some form of customer car situation.

The FIA president Jean Todt has tried this year to drive through meaningful cost controls, but with 10 days until the deadline, the signs are that this will not happen.

Today in Austria, the subject will be front of mind as six of the team bosses will discuss this topic in the second FIA press conference. It will be worth keeping an eye on.

What is interesting here is that Montezemolo’s intervention is not one of his occasional salvoes; there is a feeling it is more co-ordinated than that, with Ecclestone in the loop and Todt’s FIA the target.