Former Ferrari boss admits he once got into a fight with Formula 1 race director

Follow us on Google Discover

Back in 1991, Gianni Agnelli appointed Luca di Montezemolo as the president of Ferrari. The Scuderia may be the most successful team in Formula 1 history, but at that point, they were enduring a lengthy championship drought.

They hadn’t won the constructors’ title since 1983, or the drivers’ crown since Jody Scheckter in 1979. Di Montezemolo made it his mission to end the barren run.

After multiple near-misses, he finally achieved that goal in 1999, when Michael Schumacher, Eddie Irvine and Mika Salo delivered the teams’ championship. A year later, Schumacher kick-started a run of historic dominance with five straight titles – a feat no driver has replicated before or since.

Di Montezemolo would become Ferrari chairman in 2004, the final year of that sequence. Schumacher relinquished the title to Fernando Alonso, who won it in successive years, and retired at the end of 2006.

But the Prancing Horse remained competitive, with Kimi Raikkonen delivering their 15th drivers’ title in 2007. Raikkonen and Felipe Massa brought home the constructors’ a year later, though that remains the most recent addition to their honours list.

Di Montezemolo presided over a trickier period until his resignation in 2014, when he handed the reins to Sergio Marchionne. John Elkann, the man partly responsible for bringing Lewis Hamilton to Maranello, is now in charge.

Luca di Montezemolo recalls F1 race director altercation

Speaking to Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport following the conclusion of the Olympic Games in Paris (via Formula Passion), Di Montezemolo sent a message to Ferrari. He feels it’s time they returned to ‘the top of the world’.

Fred Vasseur’s squad are currently third in the championship, 63 points behind leaders Red Bull. They have failed to fully capitalise on Sergio Perez’s struggles.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc both took victories in the first eight races, but the team’s development vision hasn’t materialised. They’ve fallen to fourth in the pecking order behind Mercedes.

Vasseur has reacted calmly to recent setbacks, while his boss Elkann is rarely seen in the F1 paddock. Di Montezemolo was perhaps more prominent, though he did admit he once confronted a race director over a decision he opposed.

“What can it learn from Italian sport?” he said. “To win, podiums are no longer enough. Ferrari must return to the top of the world.

He then added: “I once got into a fight with a race director in F1!”

How Ferrari vetoed Toto Wolff’s Mercedes exit

Di Montezemolo didn’t explicitly name the race director, but it may have been Charlie Whiting. The late Englishman held the post from 1997 until 2019.

Ferrari’s relationship with F1 has been rocky at times. During the 2010s, they threatened to quit the sport on multiple occasions.

While things have now stabilised, it’s emerged that former team principal Mattia Binotto vetoed Toto Wolff’s proposed move to Liberty Media. The Mercedes boss wanted to work for F1’s commercial rights holder, but Ferrari may have been concerned by the prospect of a former rival taking up that position.

Vasseur is currently occupying a dual role, serving as the interim technical director following the departure of the Aston Martin-bound Enrico Cardile. Leclerc expects the team to sign a permanent replacement in the near future.