Ferrari deny threat to quit F1

Legendary Italian F1 racing team Ferrari have denied that a statement made by its president Luca di Montezemolo, at the recent Ferrari World Finals, was a veiled threat to walk out on F1.

Referring to issues over technical regulations and testing rules, Montezemolo said: ‘Formula 1 is still our life, but without Ferrari there is no F1, just as without F1 Ferrari would be different.’

‘If Formula 1 still wants Ferrari, it must change and go back to being at the cutting edge of research,’ he said.

But through the Horse Whisperer column on the manufacturer’s website, Ferrari has claimed that Montezemolo’s comments were constructive. ‘They were seen by some as a sort of ultimatum or even a threat to leave F1, but the Whisperer can assure you that it was nothing of the kind. For starters the words ‘leave’ or ‘ultimatum’ did not even feature in his pronouncement.’

‘The criticisms and comments put forward on Sunday are nothing new – Montezemolo has aired them before. It’s logical that a sports car manufacturer sees its involvement in F1 above all as a test bench for advanced technological research....’

The statement continued: ‘And to those who think that cutting back on aerodynamics was done purely for Ferrari’s benefit, remember taking into account Ferrari’s historic role, clearly it is right to want to think of F1’s success as a sport: we don’t want to see missiles or rockets on the track; what we want is competition between cars.’