Di Montezemolo steps down as Ferrari chairman!

[hogo]

We are doomed. Not as F1 team, but as Ferrari brand. I think Ferrari will follow Porsche steps from now on and I don't like this one bit :(

[eddie]

We are doomed. Not as F1 team, but as Ferrari brand. I think Ferrari will follow Porsche steps from now on and I don't like this one bit :(

You are right... I have been doing a lot of reading as of late on this saga....

Ferrari is bigger than F1, Ferrari's branding strategy, marketing (PR) and sales have been going up even when the world economies were going otherwise.

To even have 1 inch of blame be put on LdM and his men and women is pure hypocrisy.

Lets see now the guys at Fiat try run this Company.... hope they don't crash.

Very sad day indeed for all whom dearly love Ferrari with great passion.

[hogo]

F1 team performance aside, why get rid of Luca when the road car business is setting record profits? I read somewhere that Sergio marchionne wants to double ferrari's production from 6000 cars and sell them cheaper, while Luca wanted to cap it at 6000 to maintain exclusivity and sell at a higher price. If that's true and has any reason to do with why they forced him out, it's really not hard to see who the real ferrari man is? Sounds to me like Sergio is only interested in the bottom line

It's not a rumour. Ferrari sold over 7000 cars last year, LdM didn't like it. It was too much and this year he wanted to sell less, "to maintain exclusivity" like you said. But Marchione wants to sell as much as possible cos Ferrari is one of the few FIAT brands that is making money. In other words Sergio wants Ferrari to drag FIAT on it's shoulders.


I actually don't care much about Ferrari F1 team, I don't like current F1. So if new boss will decide to pull us out/give less money I won't care much either.

[aroutis]

You are right... I have been doing a lot of reading as of late on this saga....

Ferrari is bigger than F1, Ferrari's branding strategy, marketing (PR) and sales have been going up even when the world economies were going otherwise.

To even have 1 inch of blame be put on LdM and his men and women is pure hypocrisy.

Lets see now the guys at Fiat try run this Company.... hope they don't crash.

Very sad day indeed for all whom dearly love Ferrari with great passion.

Let me add, that those that are happy for this development, clearly don't understand a thing bout what just happened.

Perhaps they should bookmark this page, revisit this say a year from now.

I wish I am wrong, but this is a very bad day for Ferrari.

[tifosi1993]

Because of LDM Ferrari is what it is today. Because of LDM, Ferrari is now one of the most profitable & successful car maker and the most powerful brand in the world. Without LDM; no championship in 70's, no dream team. Ferrari is the most successful team in F1 because of him.

Thank you Luca Di Montezemolo for all your effort and hard work, you"ll be missed.

[eddie]

Let me add, that those that are happy for this development, clearly don't understand a thing bout what just happened.

Perhaps they should bookmark this page, revisit this say a year from now.

I wish I am wrong, but this is a very bad day for Ferrari.

I fully agree with you. LdM said its the end of his era... I cried!

This is worst than loosing all those championship..... The issues in F1 seems so small now.

I sympathize for the Ferrari family, we are loosing a great leader.

I will miss those waves LdM gives to the crowd, to the tifosi...

[coolrunnings_99]

The deeds of great men and women are left for speculative business boys to play around with.
Men and women gunned for race victories and glory sacrificing everything towards it.
The racing world was happy and quite excited every once in a while, on race weekends.
While boys might place their bets at profit pedestal, stakeholders shall be made happy, no money would be harmed.
Apart from perhaps the emotion and name of Ferrai taking the Lotus southward vector, hell yeah, as long as stakeholders are happy.
The Y definition of happy being that it only applies to present tense, now, here, and more of the same.
That happens a lot nowadays, but ehem, since the only world and weltschmertz constant is change, still it doesn not mean that everyone is supposed to like it.
Porsche lived thru it, sprouting the hideous Cayenne, but Porsche was never near pedigree or heritage at stake here, simply cause wining in F1 might prove too expensive for the average stakeholder/investor/profit junkie.
LdM s best move was MS, JT, RB and leaving them alone.
That was very long time ago, in Y terms, while in terms of heritage, tradition and human interactions, sheesh..it happened just moments ago.

bye cool...

[Senna4Ever]

Because of LDM Ferrari is what it is today. Because of LDM, Ferrari is now one of the most profitable & successful car maker and the most powerful brand in the world. Without LDM; no championship in 70's, no dream team. Ferrari is the most successful team in F1 because of him.

Thank you Luca Di Montezemolo for all your effort and hard work, you"ll be missed.

So what has changed that big from Saturday to Wednesday that it went from (I'm staying) to (I'm leaving)?

[Kiwi Nick]

If you really want to blame somebody for what has happened, don't blame Marchionne. You must look back to 1969, when Enzo Ferrari sold a 50% interest in the company to FIAT and 2008, when Montezemolo sold another 35% to FIAT. Now FIAT owns 90% of Ferrari and Piero owns 10%.

If you agree to take FIAT's money, you need to be prepared to live by FIAT's rules. Of course FIAT were eventually going to ask Ferrari for more and more profits and more and more volume. If Enzo and Luca had not made a deal with the devil, Ferrari would not be doing the devil's dance.

You might also ask yourself, why didn't Luca and some of his aristocratic buddies buy Ferrari from FIAT rather than building bullet trains etc. if Ferrari was so important to them?

[Majki2111]

Very sad to see Luca leave. I fear for Ferrari under Sergio Marchionne. From what I've read in the past, he would have Ferrari go the way of Porsche and become another ubiquitous motoring brand. He is not a man who appears to understand or appreciate Ferrari tradition and history.

Not important. NEED TO WORK FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE.

[Suzie]

Don't like Luca or his constant threats to flounce out of F1 - but better the devil you know, I suppose.
I hope it works out for Ferrari.

[Sab_g]

We are doomed. Not as F1 team, but as Ferrari brand. I think Ferrari will follow Porsche steps from now on and I don't like this one bit :(

Sadly I think you might be right. Porsche make fantastic cars, but there's no magic about them if that makes sense. Hope ferrari doesn't go the same way

[FerrariF60]

so i guess the LONG HUG between Fernando and Luca this past weekend race was a pretty obvious CLUE that he will leave.

this is sad news, but let's only hope that it is for the BEST..

[Ed Harley]

"Nobody is indespensable"

It was bound to happen at some point and this is the point when company saw that enough is enough.

[Hornet]

Not important. NEED TO WORK FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE.

It is important actually. If the new president doesn't value Ferrari's racing tradition, what do you think he will do to Ferrari's F1 program. If he isn't committed to F1 like Luca was, he may start cutting spending in F1, or in worst case, completely end the F1 program.

This is what I'm worried about. Will the new president be as committed to F1 as Luca was.

[shamim179]

Not surprised at all by this announcement. The writing was on the wall for Luca unfortunately. His ear tweak to their lead driver last year was a clear sign that his judgement is not quite what it used to be. Retaining and having outmost faith in Stefano for all these years was probably his biggest mistake - even when Stefano wanted to resign he still persuaded him to stay. Luca should have been much stronger here with Stefano but he was too emotionally attached to him therefore reluctant to have him replaced. When FIAT are the principal shareholder of Ferrari, you have to go along with their strategies. Disagreeing with them can be futile. Luca was given the freedom without interference by FIAT to govern and lead Ferrari in the way he sees fit but the performance of the F1 team has been dropping at an alarming rate in recent times. This was all orchestrated and planned well ahead. Luca has already secured another job.

But I do agree with many posters here that during the interim phase with a possible handover to Sergio there will be some instability and confusion. Sergio will probably do things differently and this inevitably will affect the direction that Ferrari and the F1 team head in. What must Alonso and Kimi be thinking? 2 high level changes in the same year. This usually occurs in very troubled companies.

[Kyss4k]

Looks to me like it's all planed. Mattiaci in, Luca out, rumours being true... I never believed the talks abour Brawn coming back, but it all connects now.

I just hope Marchionne won't be leading Ferrari for good. We can probably say goodbye to it's exclusivity... it will become what Porsche is.

[Aberracus]

Not surprised at all by this announcement. The writing was on the wall for Luca unfortunately. His ear tweak to their lead driver last year was a clear sign that his judgement is not quite what it used to be. Retaining and having outmost faith in Stefano for all these years was probably his biggest mistake - even when Stefano wanted to resign he still persuaded him to stay. Luca should have been much stronger here with Stefano but he was too emotionally attached to him therefore reluctant to have him replaced. When FIAT are the principal shareholder of Ferrari, you have to go along with their strategies. Disagreeing with them can be futile. Luca was given the freedom without interference by FIAT to govern and lead Ferrari in the way he sees fit but the performance of the F1 team has been dropping at an alarming rate in recent times. This was all orchestrated and planned well ahead. Luca has already secured another job.

But I do agree with many posters here that during the interim phase with a possible handover to Sergio there will be some instability and confusion. Sergio will probably do things differently and this inevitably will affect the direction that Ferrari and the F1 team head in. What must Alonso and Kimi be thinking? 2 high level changes in the same year. This usually occurs in very troubled companies.

+1

[JohnDelinger]

the irony of a name F14T

[WS6TransAm01]

I don't think this will end up being good for Ferrari F1... I hope I am wrong

According to reports in Germany the new man is already chosen: Marchionne ... with 13th October

Car broken in Monza
Media unveiled that Kimi just slower because he has to carry more weight
LdM leaving
Mr. Botin died

not a good week for Alonso it seems ....

so what next?

Wait... what?

[Forzi]

A lil bit sad. Feels like 2006 all over again.

[Forzi]

According to reports in Germany the new man is already chosen: Marchionne ... with 13th October

Car broken in Monza
Media unveiled that Kimi just slower because he has to carry more weight
LdM leaving
Mr. Botin died

not a good week for Alonso it seems ....

so what next?

All cars on the grid weight the same. He's got the same thing beneath him as Fernando. Unless, they mean he has less ballast to move around. Though seeing that almost all drivers on the grid have little to none of it, shouldn't be something really noticable.

[coolrunnings_99]

I do not believe for one milisecond that F1 performance and results have anything even remotely to do with LdM leaving.
If it were the case, then this could be good news, but rather it could be the prepping of the "managerial shroud of deniabilty" for a more sinister agenda.
In a realistic world, which does seem to work under different set of rules, than the idealistic one, I think it went a bit similar to...MM(not Marylin Monroe) came to do the Sergios and stakeholders bidding, LdM probly said: "no, not like that" on several occasions. Then the leverage takes over fast, of brilliant spredsheet ideology.
Ona different note, since FAC is the next best thing in town, right next to sliced bread, it would be interesting to speculate on future values (wasnt this, and still is Wall Street sponsorship of uncertanty?) since the state of affairs in FAC might be fiscally OK at the moment. But in future, the real future, not spreadsheet wishfull thinking possible image of future, FAC may turn out to be most flogged dead horse in town.Why?
For example, Alfa Romeo has 3 models on sale, FIAT has introduced the last succesfull motor vehicle in the guise of F500, and full stop.
Marriage between Chrysler and FIAT with an SUV concept as a best man, is something to be yet tested for harmony.
Lancia, there is no more Lancia.
Compare that with slightly lesser balance sheet of for example PSA group, (Pegueot and Citroen) their engagemnet in ERC, WTCC, ETCC, WRC and their car lineup.
There You will be witness to an active and dynamic thinking and such a techical and car model package at least give a company (yes and its stakeholders) a fair chance to make money, because it makes good automobiles with adequate sporting representation.
This IMHO just might be the case of creative accounting, before anything sporting or sporting performance wise related,where Ferrari Gestione Sportiva could take the Abarth role and ill fate.
Taking somebodys money does not put one in servitude void of common sense, and it is a deal as wasEnzo s "in vitalizzio" when taking Agnelli money in 69, and waving to Ford a big ciao.That can only happen if You knock someone on the head and take his/hers wallet.
Investments and racing were never good friends, neither was splashing money on technical issues and expecting them to work, just cause it costs stake/share holder more than he likes or wishes.
But in the process, when guarded by common sense, human realtions, and sound racecraft and tech stuff, magic things happen, which usually do not happen on stake/share holders meetings.

bye cool...

[eddie]

"Nobody is indespensable"

It was bound to happen at some point and this is the point when company saw that enough is enough.

True on the indispensability.

But, the Company is made by the men and women working together under the teamwork of great leadership over the years. Without these, there isn't any Company to begin with.

I used to work for a huge multi-national giant. We had a great leader, he was ousted by Corporate politics.

They are nowhere now... without a Captain, it will be ship wreck!

Their stocks value... guess it, very low... never this low....

Good luck FIAT (FCA) or whoever is behind this, trust me.... you will need it!

[eddie]

It is important actually. If the new president doesn't value Ferrari's racing tradition, what do you think he will do to Ferrari's F1 program. If he isn't committed to F1 like Luca was, he may start cutting spending in F1, or in worst case, completely end the F1 program.

This is what I'm worried about. Will the new president be as committed to F1 as Luca was.

Hopefully the don't pull Corse Clienti as well... else, I am jumping ship to Lambo... LOL!

[REDARMYSOJA]

I'll just repeat what I've said elsewhere about this.

I still don't understand why Luca had to go for this to all happen, if this has nothing to do with the race team, that is. Apparently Luca was stronger than people thought, if Marchionne had to kill him off rather than just step over him. I know there is some separation between the FIAT and Ferrari companies, I think Ferrari is a little more independent than many of us realize, else the Fiat board would just push through what they want whenever they want it.

That's what I thought was going on here, that Marchionne and Luca were having a standoff because Marchionne couldn't get what he wanted because Luca was in the way and Marchionne didn't have enough support within both companies to force the change. It looked like Luca had proved his point that he could make money with less production, I thought that had bought him time, but I guess the shareholders decided they liked Marchionne's promise better.

It will be interesting to see if more people from Ferrari follow. This could end up like the Laura Ferrari incident.

[Nova]

If u dont understand the impact of this, then u simply dont understand the true tradition and legend of Ferrari.
Luca has kept alive these virtues while bringing Ferrari into the 21st century. Ferrari is the most recognized, famous brand in the world. Sure the F1 team is down, but F1 is cyclic at best. He also brought forth the last great winning group of Todt, Brawn and Michael, so the F1 team will be back. Of course he couldnt go on forever, as age and time stand still for no one. But I for 1, am very sorry to see him go. Hand picked by Enzo himself, the last of the true links to the history of Ferrari.

You did good Luca. Ciao Amice.

[GrndLkNatv]

It's official, my business partner was in Maranello yesterday when Mr. Marchionne arrived via heli. Big change to the team, perhaps more focus on winning and less management, more engineers and workers..

[REDARMYSOJA]

I dont like this.

Its got a destabilising ring to it, especially for the F1 team. LDM was a powerful character. Dang!!

Bad news, Luca always protected the F1 team and this might now change.

The thing I fear about Marchionne is, he appears willing to destroy Ferrari to save Fiat, which I suppose is part of his job however. I didn't believe it when all this first came up about Luce being shown the door, I thought this production and IPO issue had all been solved, but it looks like Marchionne has just been sharpening his knives.

Now that this has proven true, I just hope the other thing I heard is not true, that if Luca leaves that means no more F1 team, for the foreseable future at least.

[Alesi1]

F1 media-- What a load of garbage, has anyone mentioned the fact that Fernando weighs several kilos more than Kimi, now they have to start more .... What a joke . How about just driving and stop winging about the car not being right for him bla bla bla instead of making excuses. I don't buy it , a good driver adapts no matter what. People shloud give give Fernando credit, this reminds of the prost era, hewas totally underrated just as fernando is.