Straight From The Horse's Mouth Tuesday 23rd February 2010 - PlanetF1.com There were some interesting developments on the Ferrari website this Tuesday. Not for the Scuderia the dull press release filled with the language of platitude and tedium. Oh no... They went for the jugular in an editorial piece citing the FIA's "holy war on big teams," though they did this safe in the knowledge that the true target of their anger had long ago left the building. Luca Montezemolo is clearly less than pleased that his cars will have to share the grid with teams barely worthy as this extract supposedly written by '(Prancing) Horse Whisperer' attests. "Of the thirteen teams who signed up, or were induced to sign up, for this year's Championship, to date only eleven of them have heeded the call, turning up on track, some later than others, and while some have managed just a few hundred kilometres, others have done more, but at a much reduced pace." "As for the twelfth team, Campos Meta, its shareholder and management structure has been transformed, according to rumours which have reached the Horse Whisperer through the paddock telegraph, with a sudden cash injection from a munificent white knight, well used to this sort of last minute rescue deal." - which is interesting because from this you get the impression that it's not Carabante who's come in with the money, but Bernie Ecclestone. Ecclestone helped broker the deal but Ferrari clearly believe there's more to it than that. "However, the beneficiaries of this generosity might find the knight in question expects them to fulfil the role of loyal vassal. All this means, it is hard to imagine the Dallara-designed car showing its face at the Catalunya Circuit, with Sakhir a more likely venue to witness the return of the Senna name to a Formula 1 session. "The thirteenth team, US F1, appears to have gone into hiding in Charlotte, North Carolina, to the dismay of those like the Argentinian, Lopez, who thought he had found his way into the Formula 1 paddock." - but Ferrari aren't happy about the alternative "Next, we have the Serbian vultures. Firstly, they launched themselves into a quixotic legal battle with the FIA, then they picked the bones of Toyota on its death bed. Having got some people on board, around whom there was still a whiff of past scandals, they are now hovering around waiting to replace whoever is first to drop out of the game, possibly with backing from that very same knight in shining armour whom we mentioned earlier." - true Mike Coughlan has a whiff of scandal about him, but so does their new driver Fernando Alonso who in 2007 was busily composing questions about data he'd like the Ferrari mole to supply when he was at McLaren. Serbian vultures? Nobody asked Toyota to pack their bags and quit the sport. Horse Whisperer isn't finished, though. "This is the outcome: two teams will limp into the start of the championship, a third is being pushed into the ring by an invisible hand - you can be sure it is not the hand of Adam Smith - and, as for the fourth, well, you would do better to call on Missing Persons to locate it. In the meantime, we have lost two constructors along the way, in the shape of BMW and Toyota, while at Renault, there's not much left other than the name. Was it all worth it?" So they think Lotus and Virgin have 'limped' into the championship, even though they've done more pre-season testing than Paul Stoddart's much-loved Minardi outfit ever did. They've slagged off the remainder of the Renault team at Enstone and they think Max Mosley's 'holy war' forced out Toyota. How to lose friends and piss off people. They're right in that Mosley wanted to encourage new teams into the sport, but the FIA's major mistake was to choose two teams that had no reputation to lose if they didn't turn up. Had the FIA picked Lola and Prodrive, two massive motorsport operations, the impact of their failure to make the grid would have had a knock-on effect across their motorsport businesses. With global recalls of many Toyota models and production lines being closed down, the idea of maintaining an F1 team 'to keep up the brand image' would never have struggled into 2010 whatever Mosley did. They were gone. It sounds like the Scuderia are positioning themselves ready to resist the pressure that will bear down on them when the detail of resource restriction begins to bite. They're not happy that their vote and influence is almost the same as the johnny-come-latelys of Virgin and Lotus. Because this season, just like so many seasons in the past, there is going to be one battle on the track and another one off it. The first shot has been fired. Andrew Davies
Now that the FIA is Jean Todt I wonder if this isn't Ferrari's way of putting him on the spot. Finding out where his loyalties lie right off the bat. In any case it looks like this season won't lack political drama even without Max.
They had their chance with FOTA. To take control of their own destiny and they, but once again, sold out. Toyota and BMW were even leading the charge while Ferrari played it somewhat safe. Now Bernie is still in charge so you take what he gives. He certainly doesn't want to give the remaining manufacturers an edge over him ever again. He has a good memory.
I hope Ferrari feel confident that they can beat all of those teams handily this year, otherwise they may be eating a lot of crow. It's certainly not a foregone conclusion that the Ferrari is any better than last year's heap. Peter
They shoulda just kept silent. Now their image, is that of an spoiled child that could not completely have its way. To criticize a team with Richard Branson behind it is just stupid. Alonso, and diMontezemelo, wonderful bedmates, they should choke on their past. Todt is too smart, too strong even for Luca to mess with. Davies is correct, Prodrive and Lola would have been better choices than Campos and USF1, but then, I doubt anyone here knows exactly what was presented and stated by both of these teams to convince the FIA. Not too mention Mosley's control freak nature in making these choices.