Montezemolo: “I have faith in the team: now it’s time for results”

[Rob]

Maranello, 8 July – The Scuderia Ferrari engineers have already got back to work this morning, having returned from the Nürburgring in the middle of the night aboard a charter flight. This marks the end of a double-header that, along with the inevitable stress load, seems to have generated new perspectives. At the usual meeting that follows every grand prix Sunday between President Montezemolo, Team Principal Stefano Domenicali and the team’s engineers, the agenda included the development programme of the F138 and planning for the next two crucial dates in the diary: the Young Driver Test taking place at Britain’s Silverstone circuit from July 17-19 and the Hungarian Grand Prix on the weekend of July 28 at the Hungaroring on the outskirts of Budapest.

Even though the last two weeks have been notable for a huge effort to improve the car and to reduce the gap to the front especially in qualifying, plus the question of tyres, the team wants to respond with even more of a push. That’s only right at a crucial moment of the season because now it is no longer just a question of tyre management or adapting to weather conditions, but also the obligation to define the direction of development of the F138.

Luca di Montezemolo told www.ferrari.com: “Today we looked at the agenda for the coming weeks of work to clarify the priorities along with the engineers. Now I ask of everyone a greater determination and strong concentration on every detail. I have enormous faith in the team and I expect a concrete response from everyone, because only through great will and plenty of work will it be possible to come away with the results that we all want. To sum up: fewer words and more achievements.”
Yesterday Scuderia Ferrari left the Nürburgring clearly disappointed with Fernando Alonso’s fourth place and Felipe Massa’s retirement. Those results didn’t match up to expectations and they were not attributable to external factors. But what can be seen today on the faces of all the Scuderia’s men and women working at Maranello is a great desire to get going again, as illustrated by the words of Team Principal Stefano Domenicali: “Yet again we have had a confirmation of the importance of analysing the data and managing the tyre behaviour. That is the same for everyone but we must try to get even more out of them than the others if we want to win. That also applies to the development of the F138, an area where we must do better than our opponents. Now we have some decisive weeks ahead looking towards Hungary. There is a crucial test which we must exploit to the maximum, in terms of both the performance of the tyres and the technical development of the car. Everything is still to play for because we are only halfway through the champoinship and the goals we had at the start of the year are still within reach.”

http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/mon...s-time-results

[Kiwi Nick]

Dated July 8, what year 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009?

[kiwifella]

Dated July 8, what year 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009?

Yeah....seems to be the same line every time, every year. Jeez if they had of been in charge of the England Football Team, they'd have been sacked years ago....

[Tifoso]

Just.....shut.....up.

[Nero Horse]

Stay calm and Forza Ferrari! Sooner or later we'll be back on top, it's only a matter of time. Whining and moaning won't help anyone. The whole team is working extremely hard to get back to winning ways, you can be sure of that! We just need to be patient and be thankful that we're not in the deep dark hole where Mclaren and Williams are right now.

[bonzo]

LdM should act the same way FIAT shareholders acted in 2004 when the management Cantarella/Fresco/Morchio almost bankrupted the group in their 4-5 years tenure on top of it. They eventually were sacked and in 2004 Luca Montezemolo and Sergio Morchionne took over and not only salvaged the company but made it profitable, bought Chrysler and returned FIAT to making what it does best - small cars.
After 4-5 years of Ferrari not wnning it is about time Luca acts decisively. Having faith for 5 years did not yielded the desired results-that's what Luca is saying himself. (Please noone say he is bashing!)
We know changes cannot happen mid season but by come November, imho, LdM will do it.

[FerrariF60]

Dated July 8, what year 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009?

it's the same shpeal/speach we get every year about this time; thE only words that are changed are: from F60 to F10 to F150th to F2012 TO THE LATEST ONE F138......

we FANS demand actions on track...NOT empty promise words...we hear that every year....ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

[FrankAlfa]

I think there is a "Fork in the Road" for Luca Di Montezemolo and the Ferrari Team as a whole. Everything will depend on how the team performs and then the drivers are reviewed and their individual contribution to the team. I think Luca must obviously take a very hard look his people again and the choices get harder and harder each year the team continues to Not Win a Championship. Luca knows he may have to replace "Team Principle" and "Chief Designer" to Lead the Team in a better direction. We are all suffering with the "Sub-Par" performance of the Ferrari Team and this is the problem Luca & the Ferrari Team, AGAIN must face. It seems Ferrari are stuck in a state of finding it difficult to make advancements. It seems Tombazis has the same bewilderment Costa had before he was fired. It is an Extremely difficult situation when the Engineers your rely on no longer have the answers to the problems and do not know what direction to go. This is a very big group of very good Engineers but they continue to lack Engineering Direction! They need Direction and some Very Hard Work. Unfortunately, "Solutions do not come overnight and they are not spontaneous

[Nova]

Just.....shut.....up.

[71dino]

Everyone blew off steam yesterday which is healthy ... I have a feeling that things might just turn around after this break. It does get frustrating because we come so close with podiums and points, but not quite enough race pace to catch the Bulls... yet! You can bet they are hard at it in the Ferrari garage because no one wants to win more than the team. Before the Shu era I got used to us not having a car that challenged but we often came very close and then suddenly, we owned F1. I honestly believe it will happen again, and when it does I know that we Ferrari fans will behave much better than some of the Bulls fans... they are a spoiled lot and haven't paid a lot of dues; neither winning nor losing streaks last forever. I hope everyone will look ahead in a optimistic manner because we are the Scuderia and we are second to none... Forza...

[Kingdom Hearts]

Montezemolo is like a broken record but a man in his position has to do it, no reason to complain on my side.

[anakin]

when will be the supposedly young driver test and FIA allows current drivers to participate will be held?
i heard that they will allow upgrade parts test. this is the perfect time for ferrari to provide results!!!!

[Gould]

With the new tyres about to start in Hungary, who know, this years championship maybe 2 different halves. The 1st half we were good but not as good as RBR. Lets hope the second half is better for us!

[Alonsomaniac]

Stay calm and Forza Ferrari! Sooner or later we'll be back on top, it's only a matter of time. Whining and moaning won't help anyone. The whole team is working extremely hard to get back to winning ways, you can be sure of that! We just need to be patient and be thankful that we're not in the deep dark hole where Mclaren and Williams are right now.

The one and only truth....

[Kiwi Nick]

Ferrari need to clean house (principal, designers, engineers, drivers...everybody), then roll the dice and find the next young Adrian Newey, Michael Schumacher and turn them loose!

[Rob]

Ferrari need to clean house (principal, designers, engineers, drivers...everybody), then roll the dice and find the next young Adrian Newey, Michael Schumacher and turn them loose!

That wouldnt be the best thing. As the "new" team would have to work together for a year to see how the procedures wrk, how they all work as one. Be even more moaning and bashing about how we not winning or even worse scoring points.

Best thing is stable house, bolster the design team, get anD set new working/designing procedures.

[Bubbles]

Ferrari need to clean house (principal, designers, engineers, drivers...everybody), then roll the dice and find the next young Adrian Newey, Michael Schumacher and turn them loose!

The only rotten parts are the team principal and the chief designer. Domenicali might actually be okay-ish, but Tombazis has got to go. Aldo Costa left and things improved, now it's time for the other guy to leave.

[Dino]

Ferrari need to clean house (principal, designers, engineers, drivers...everybody), then roll the dice and find the next young Adrian Newey, Michael Schumacher and turn them loose!

Sack them all 2nd.Edition.

It's so much harder than rolling the dice Kiwi Nick !!

[Tifoso]

The only rotten parts are the team principal and the chief designer. Domenicali might actually be okay-ish, but Tombazis has got to go. Aldo Costa left and things improved, now it's time for the other guy to leave.

Tend to agree. Where is Byrne, BTW?

[Bubbles]

Tend to agree. Where is Byrne, BTW?

At the F138 car launch he, himself said he's working full-steam at the 2014 prototype, which leads me to believe the LaFerrari was a design exercise for the guy. If that is the case, then Ferrari know what they're doing and are keeping Tombazis around until Byrne is ready to take over. Of course, next year's car has to deliver, but it shouldn't be hard for the old master to adapt. I also read somewhere that Tombazis is a bit unhappy - to put it mildly - at the idea of having a single guy leading the design team. He also said a while after that that he respects Byrne, his former boss, but said something like "this is the time of the design teams, not sole designers". Obviously, Tombazis doesn't know how efficient the Byrne team was at Ferrari and how efficient the Newey team is at Red Bull, but that is why I hate the guy so much - wooden-headed like Aldo Costa.

So the signs point to Rory Byrne coming back as Chief Designer maybe in 2014. I guess Fernando's performance has convinced him that it's worth it. Strange, he didn't think so for Kimi or Felipe...

[R Ginart]

Yeap, copy/paste and change date

Dated July 8, what year 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009?

[Nova]

All in all, no..the F138 is a darn good car, hampered by the Pirelli's, and theyre inconsistent race car tire
design. 1 week theyre ok, next week they stink and so far only 2 teams can get any speed out of them.
Sure u can say "Oh Ferrari should design the car to be more this or that for the tires", but geez, theyve been changed
how many times this season? How many races have been run where teams HAVENT had tire problems?
Or any number of drivers said they were simply to slow?
Look at what the latest change did to Merc who had a test jump on everyone...They were nowhere last race.
As far as I can see, RB and Reno are the only teams happy, and RB cried so loud when they didnt like the tires,
they got Pirelli to change them.

Lets put blame where its due. Mabey if Ferrari cried as loud as RB did, we'd have a decent tire too.
If these tires remain the same, u may as well give RB or Lotus the crowns now.

The car is good, so is the team.

[sam101]

Originally Posted by Kiwi Nick
Dated July 8, what year 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009? Total and unwavering blind faith.....

[Alfa159]

Ferrari are the oldest remaining F1 team, they last won a WDC in 2007, maybe supporters are a bit frustrated that a team with such expertise, experience and financial backing haven't done so well in the last six years ... fair call I say.

[Dino]

The only rotten parts are the team principal and the chief designer. Domenicali might actually be okay-ish, but Tombazis has got to go. Aldo Costa left and things improved, now it's time for the other guy to leave.

Looks like Tombazis is staying !
James Allison will join him soon to start working on the 2014 car.

10 luglio 2013 – James Allison dovrebbe essere ormai sulla via di Maranello. L’ex direttore tecnico della Lotus, che era stato accostato nell’ultimo periodo a molti team concorrenti, pare abbia definito il proprio approdo alla Ferrari dove aveva già lavorato dal 2000 al 2004 in piena era Schumacher.

A rivelarlo è Autosprint, che non mette la questione al condizionale dando praticamente per certa la notizia che Allison vestirà di rosso già nella prossima stagione. L’arrivo o meglio il ritorno di Allison che lavorerà a fianco del progettista Tombazis, potrà certamente rinvigorire la vena progettuale del tecnico greco in futuro.

July 10, 2013 - James Allison should be well on the way to Maranello. The former technical director of Lotus, who had been linked to several teams competing in the last period, seems to have defined its approach to the Ferrari where he had worked from 2000 to 2004 was in full Schumacher.

This was revealed by Autosprint, that does not put the matter to the conditional giving virtually certain the news that Allison already decked out in red next season. The arrival or rather the return of Allison who will work alongside the designer Tombazis will be certain to reinvigorate the vein of technical greek design in the future.

http://www.f1passion.it/2013/07/f1-j...-alla-ferrari/

[kingjuani]

Well said, same every year, every time, SD is the problem, he shows weak leadership, no responsibility or accountability for his actions, the man has won 1 title in his 7/8 yrs in charge. RESIGN, go work elsewhere u not coming right and unable the best driver and the most resources..

[Greig]

Well said, same every year, every time, SD is the problem, he shows weak leadership, no responsibility or accountability for his actions, the man has won 1 title in his 7/8 yrs in charge. RESIGN, go work elsewhere u not coming right and unable the best driver and the most resources..

Did you want Jean Todt booted out when it took him 7/8 years to win a title?

[Alonsomaniac]

Well said, same every year, every time, SD is the problem, he shows weak leadership, no responsibility or accountability for his actions, the man has won 1 title in his 7/8 yrs in charge. RESIGN, go work elsewhere u not coming right and unable the best driver and the most resources..

Interesting...how many years have you worked with Stefano?

[Gould]

A lot has changed withing this team since the golden years. MSC, Byrne, Brawn, Todt and Martinelli have left and their shoes will require time to fill. Don't kid yourself, the Ferrari F138 is a fine racing car and is so close to the front. I actually think that in capable hands it is capable of a WDC, just look at what FA is doing with it. It just needs that little push that will propel it forward. Tombazis is good, make no mistake.

And lets not forget that even in the golden years, SF's performance was enhanced by bespoke Bridgestone Potenza's that were good enough for 4 or 5 tenths.....

[ntukza]

Did you want Jean Todt booted out when it took him 7/8 years to win a title?

I might be mistaken but I believe Todt inherited a team that had been struggling for years when he joined Ferrari, whereas SD had momentum, expertise and recent history in his favour. Hence, the two scenarios are hardly comparable.