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[spankyham]

 wrote:">23 years in a day

Luca di Montezemolo looks back and says thank you

Maranello, 10th September

It was a day that no one will easily forget. Not the Prancing Horse tifosi. Not the women and men that work in Ferrari. Particularly not Luca di Montezemolo who, after 23 years in the job, announced his decision to step down as Chairman of the company today.
The day began very early. Well before the press agencies made the news public at around 8.50, Montezemolo had already met with the company’s directors to inform them of his decision. He did so alongside Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne who takes his place after what the Chairman described as his “last day of school”, October 13th.
The official public announcement came at 14.00 in a packed press room adjoining the Ferrari Museum in Maranello. Before an audience of around 70 international radio, TV and print journalists, Montezemolo attempted to hold his emotions in check as he explained that as one major cycle had ended, and in view of the new and very different season the FCA Wall Street flotation would usher in, it was time to pass on the baton.
The Chairman looked back fondly on last 23 years which he said “went by very, very fast” and thanked all of Ferrari’s staff, particularly those closest to him: Vice-Chairman Piero Ferrari, CEO Amedeo Felisa and Human Resources Director Mario Mairano. There were special words too for Jean Todt and Michael Schumacher, the driver that helped return the Prancing Horse to triumphant form after a long fallow period. Montezemolo also remembered the late Emilio Botin who was not only Chairman of the Scuderia’s sponsor, Santander, but a personal friend and a staunch Ferrari tifoso. He spoke too with great affection of the many, many tifosi who stood by the team even through the most difficult times.
There was time for other memories also, including the call from Enzo Ferrari in 1973 to become sporting director of the team that took Niki Lauda to World Championship victory in 1975, and Gianni Agnelli’s tears of joy when Michael Schumacher won the title in 2000. Montezemolo and Sergio Marchionne also joked about everything from advice on how to dress (“As you can see, I didn’t listen to him,” quipped the Fiat CEO) to the rumours about Montezemolo’s professional future (“I suppose I could always head a major automobile group in Detroit,” he smiled). The Ferrari Chairman was also keen to underscore the uniqueness of the brand and its deep links with the surrounding area. He then announced upcoming exciting news at the Paris Show and celebrations for the Prancing Horse’s 60th year in the United States.
After the press conference, Montezemolo returned to the factory where he met with the heads of the production department. While he had managed to remain composed in front of the world’s press, he did shed a few tears with “his” men.
The Chairman then returned to his office to personally answer the many messages pouring in from all over the world. And, of course, to work. Something he will continue to do until that “last day at school”.

[spankyham]

Luca leaves a neat financial legacy and a Ferrari in a great financial position.

[pdfview]http://miascuderia.com/media/Ferrari/CdA-Ferrari119_finale_GBR.pdf[/pdfview]

[spankyham]

 wrote:">A special day but objectives remain the same

Maranello, 10 September 2014 – It was a special day for Scuderia Ferrari, as indeed it was for the entire company and for the fans and followers of the Prancing Horse. On the day that President Luca di Montezemolo announced his resignation, the staff of the Formula 1 team were hard at work, preparing for next week’s Singapore race, aware that, at a joint press conference held today, both Montezemolo and the CEO of the FCA, Sergio Marchionne stated the same objective, namely to start winning again.
Both men underlined that the medium and long term goals remain unchanged: to return to being competitive on track and to try and establish a new winning era. The President stated that, “in the company we have the framework, the means and the personnel to get back on top and I am convinced that it won’t be long before we are once again the benchmark team.” For his part, Marchionne added, “winning is essential for Ferrari and I have no doubt we are capable of doing that. We will do all it takes, also in terms of our resources, to reach this objective.”

[spankyham]

 wrote:">Montezemolo backs the Scuderia

Maranello, 11 September – Pride and determination were the key notes in a speech from Ferrari President, Luca di Montezemolo, as he addressed the staff of the Gestione Sportiva in a further show of support. The venue was symbolic, as it was the building site of the new Gestione Sportiva, a structure designed to reflect the concept of integration and constant evolution, a philosophy that stems from the president of the Maranello marque himself.

Montezemolo, who was joined by Team Principal Marco Matticacci, Ferrari Vice President Piero Ferrari and the company’s Managing Director Amedeo Felisa, spoke to the staff for around half an hour, occasionally interrupted by rounds of applause. He recalled all the battles fought out on track and the emotions shared with the team and the driver who was the main player in the team’s winning era in the first decade of this century, Michael Schumacher. After a brief look back at his long tenure as the boss of the company, the President turned his thoughts to the future. He repeated the need for everyone to give their utmost to take the Scuderia back to the top. “We have understood our mistakes and in the company we have everything needed to reach our goal, in terms of personnel, infrastructure and resources. We need to work more closely together, because that’s what is required with the new regulations. We must lay our problems out in a line and tackle them one at a time and, we must work like a real team and have the courage to dare. This is the only way we can embark on another winning cycle.”

The end of the speech was met with a long burst of heartfelt applause, showing what the staff felt for the President. Before taking his leave, Montezemolo shook every single one of them by the hand, as they stood in line to wish him farewell personally.”

[sagi58]

 wrote:">Montezemolo backs the Scuderia

The end of the speech was met with a long burst of heartfelt applause, showing what the staff felt for the President. Before taking his leave, Montezemolo shook every single one of them by the hand, as they stood in line to wish him farewell personally.”

WoW!! That must have been a very emotional scene!!

I know a lot of people don't like di Montezemolo; but, I don't understand
how anyone could not be impressed by the man's dedication to Ferrari!!

Bravo, Luca!! Tanti auguri per un futuro ancora piu' bello!!

[spankyham]

I know a lot of people don't like di Montezemolo

There are a few who can articulate why they don't agree with some of his views and opinions

There's a sh1te-load who dislike him because they were deeply scarred by his era of Ferrari dominance (you don't have to look far to find plenty of those)

Then there's just the tall poppy cutters out there

[darwin dali]

OUCH

The words were propelled by flame thrower. A day after Ferrari’s patrician ex-president, Luca di Montezemolo, left office, revealing on national television in Italy what we already knew, that Fernando Alonso would be following him out the door, his replacement, Sergio Marchionne, delivered his molten mission statement.

“We’ve got to kick some bottom and we’ve got to do it quickly,” Marchionne said. “It takes what it takes. We might screw up, but we’ve got nothing to lose, right? Let’s risk something.”

How had it come to this? It is perhaps in the nature of empires that the seeds of downfall are sown at the height of power. The great Alonso was seen by Di Montezemolo as a guarantee of the continuation of the dynasty that he rebuilt, the driver with whom the team would rise again to the imperious station carved out with Michael Schumacher at the wheel.

It is hard to countenance that five years after his unveiling, Alonso should be leaving like this, his departure hastened by his own hand with the early severance of a contract that had a year still to run.

Di Montezemolo’s remarks were both a succinct approximation of the truth and a veiled dig at an organisation that no longer saw him as the man with the silver bullet.

“Alonso is leaving for two reasons: one, he wants another environment; two, because he is at an age [33] when he cannot wait to win again,” Di Montezemolo said, confirming what was widely understood. It was as if he could not say goodbye to all that he once controlled without claiming ownership of one last, vital slip of information, the habit of having the last word clearly dying hard on his lips.

Great statesman imagine they might leave at a time of their choosing, when their work is done, yet so few do because it is never over. Di Montezemolo faced the same difficulty that confronts all powerful regimes, the problem of renewal. The alignment of the arch-politician Jean Todt, the master enabler and strategist Ross Brawn, the gifted engine designer Rory Byrne and the genius Schumacher delivered a period of unprecedented success and ultimately a degree of complacency that went undetected by Di Montezemolo.

There was always a whiff of hubris about a man whose aristocratic pretentions extended to carrying his hand inside his buttoned blazer in the manner of Prince Charles. His annual December lunches at Maranello to summarise the season for the benefit of the global media had become an exercise in passing the buck.

Another season of failure would be the fault of somebody, but never him. Six years of fruitless striving, seven in the drivers’ championship following Kimi Raikkonen’s last title win for the Scuderia, a rather fortunate donation from McLaren following the Ferrari-gate scandal that detonated in the middle of 2007, were never properly acknowledged as the result of excellence elsewhere on the grid, rather the consequence of individual shortcomings within betraying the magnificent whole.

And so in the post-Schumacher era, Di Montezemolo sacked, in no particular order, a raft of key figures including team principal Stefano Domenicali, race engineer Chris Dyer, aerodynamicist Aldo Costa and engine designer Luca Marmorini, never once questioning his own contribution to the team’s demise.

It was noticeable how those in the court of Di Montezemolo would defer absolutely in his company, his habit of referring to engineering staff by their family name an example of his affected hauteur. It was said that the period of success delivered by Schumacher was in large part the success of Todt in keeping Di Montezemolo at arm’s length.

Little did go wrong once the Schumacher ball started rolling in 2000 with the first of five consecutive drivers’ championships, but the last thing the team needed when things got twitchy, as they did in 2003 when the Michelin-shod Williams threatened doom, was his royal highness throwing his weight around.

Di Montezemolo’s fall coincided with a shift in company policy regarding the production of road cars. He did not agree with the emphasis on increased production, believing the brand was at risk of dilution through over-population.

“A Ferrari is like a beautiful woman, she must be worth waiting for and desired. I base my ideas on what I learned from Enzo Ferrari, if we produce less cars, we will not flood the market and it makes our used cars more desirable too,” he said in an address just last year.

Eighteen months on, that philosophy no longer has currency. And if increased profit is the name of the game you have to wonder how long the organisation will continue to chuck the best part of €300m at a project that cannot even deliver a top-six finish at its home grand prix.

The team’s dismal showing at Monza last month was a Rubicon crossed for Marchione. You wondered also if his call to arms might be a last throw of the dice for the oldest and grandest marque of them all.

“I keep getting reminded racing is not a science, that a number of factors influence performance, and then I go to Monza and see the first six cars are not Ferrari or powered by a Ferrari engine, and my blood pressure just popped. A non-winning Ferrari on the Formula One track is not Ferrari. I can live with periods of bad luck, but it cannot become a structural element of the brand.”


http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/moto ... 00041.html

[spankyham]

Sergio handing out a few knives of his own