Ferrari’s Luca di Montezemolo on calling Felipe Massa to back up team-mate Fernando Alonso
As the five Formula 1 title contenders muscle up for the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix next weekend, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has been asked to step on the pedal and clear the way for team-mate Fernando Alonso
to take the win. Alonso, who has soared into second place in the championship rankings thanks to his thrilling victories in Italy and Singapore, will need all his might and more to edge out his dangerously close rivals in the hunt for the F1 crown.
Yet the demands on Massa have sparked a fiery criticism from racing fans, who feel that the Brazilian talent is being shafted in Ferrari’s latest team strategy. Resonances of the German Grand Prix earlier
this year linger, in which Massa was radioed a coded message to allow his colleague to pass. Relinquishing what could have been his first win in over two years, Massa finished second to Alonso, and Ferrari was slapped with a $100,000 fine for the offence,
later coming under investigation by the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
It seemed a strange tactic to pull off so early in the season, with the difference between Alonso and Massa minimal. But now a 63-point gap stands between them, while a perilously narrow one barely distances
Alonso from the other top four racers. Massa’s further contributions are likely to severely impact the 2005-06 champion’s chances of reclaiming title victory.
“I have waited for Felipe with great perseverance in the last four races. I want a strong Massa who will shave points off the rivals,” Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo stated, according to the Gazzetta
dello Sport.
“In Singapore he had some bad luck, but he is in good condition to win. Those who race for Ferrari don’t race for themselves, but for the Ferrari team colours. One who wants to race for himself will have
to face his team.”
The team with Alonso at the helm has experienced a flourishing of successes, surpassing Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in performance. But with
an extremely tight gap between each of these drivers’ rankings, di Montezemolo has argued in favour of Ferrari’s preferential treatment.
“First of all the decision to focus on Alonso has been proven to be right,” he reflected. “He is extremely strong and very close to the team, and has been able to blend in well from day one despite the
concerns of some.”
“The second is the spirit of determination of the team that has never been broken and disjointed; it has shown great ability to respond and fight back and knows how to win even under pressure. The third
is to have also focused on people like [Stefano] Domenicali and [Aldo] Costa who have proven to be absolutely vital.”
When looking back on the course of the entire year, he mused, “It has been a strange season. We won the first race, then we had some problems with the development of the car. The victories at Monza and
Singapore have rekindled hope. I’ve been thinking about one thing and I invite you to do so too: from 1997, if we exclude the year 2005, we either won the F1 championship or we lost it in the last race.”
Montezemolo wrapped up his discussion with the following call to arms: “Ferrari has always been team to beat. We won eight constructors’ world championships in the last ten years; it is important for me
to reach the highest levels in Formula 1 this year as well. We’re second and we will contest the championships until the very end.”
Tags: