- 18 Dec 08, 14:34#85317
Ferrari chief hints at Ecclestone departure
Thursday 18th December 2008
Luca di Montezemolo, the president of Ferrari, has suggested the time may have come for Bernie Ecclestone to step down from his position as Formula One commercial rights holder.
Speaking at the headquarters of Ferrari in Maranello, northern Italy, Di Montezemolo dropped heavy hints that the 78-year-old Formula One commercial rights-holder should consider retirement.
Ecclestone has vowed never to retire and has previously stated that he plans to die in the job.
Di Montezemolo is quoted in The Times as saying: "I think sooner or later he has to stop."
Di Montezemolo, who also heads the Formula One Teams Association, has criticised Ecclestone and other main owners of Formula One for a lack of vision and willingness to bring about what he believes is much needed change.
"We now have to look at the future and mainly what we want to do after 2012," Di Montezemolo said. "We have to open an important page with Ecclestone and Mackenzie, not only in terms of quantity of money but in terms of how to do many things - circuits, spectators, hospitality, television, types of track and timing of races."
The Ferrari president went on to obliquely mention the fact that the sport didn't need a 'dictator' in a thinly veiled swipe at Ecclestone.
"Do you think it is normal that we don't have one race in North America?" he said. "Do you think it is normal that we understand from the newspapers that the Canadian Grand Prix is over? Do you think it is normal that we see important sponsors decide to leave the small and moderate-sized teams? Do you think it is normal that we pay unbelievable amounts for hospitality to promote ourselves at the races? Do you think it is normal that we cannot discuss the timing of races?"
Di Montezemolo also criticised Ecclestone's recent comments quoted in The Times, to the effect that, should the teams come to him asking for a bigger slice of the F1 pie, he would pay them less, as he believes they've already cut their costs by almost a third. "We will discuss this starting from one point," Di Montezemolo said. "There is no professional sport in the world where the players get less than 50 per cent of the total cake."
http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3 ... 01,00.html
Thursday 18th December 2008
Luca di Montezemolo, the president of Ferrari, has suggested the time may have come for Bernie Ecclestone to step down from his position as Formula One commercial rights holder.
Speaking at the headquarters of Ferrari in Maranello, northern Italy, Di Montezemolo dropped heavy hints that the 78-year-old Formula One commercial rights-holder should consider retirement.
Ecclestone has vowed never to retire and has previously stated that he plans to die in the job.
Di Montezemolo is quoted in The Times as saying: "I think sooner or later he has to stop."
Di Montezemolo, who also heads the Formula One Teams Association, has criticised Ecclestone and other main owners of Formula One for a lack of vision and willingness to bring about what he believes is much needed change.
"We now have to look at the future and mainly what we want to do after 2012," Di Montezemolo said. "We have to open an important page with Ecclestone and Mackenzie, not only in terms of quantity of money but in terms of how to do many things - circuits, spectators, hospitality, television, types of track and timing of races."
The Ferrari president went on to obliquely mention the fact that the sport didn't need a 'dictator' in a thinly veiled swipe at Ecclestone.
"Do you think it is normal that we don't have one race in North America?" he said. "Do you think it is normal that we understand from the newspapers that the Canadian Grand Prix is over? Do you think it is normal that we see important sponsors decide to leave the small and moderate-sized teams? Do you think it is normal that we pay unbelievable amounts for hospitality to promote ourselves at the races? Do you think it is normal that we cannot discuss the timing of races?"
Di Montezemolo also criticised Ecclestone's recent comments quoted in The Times, to the effect that, should the teams come to him asking for a bigger slice of the F1 pie, he would pay them less, as he believes they've already cut their costs by almost a third. "We will discuss this starting from one point," Di Montezemolo said. "There is no professional sport in the world where the players get less than 50 per cent of the total cake."
http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3 ... 01,00.html
Forumula One: The World's Greatest Sport
