Luca Cordero de Montezemolo was born in 1947 in Bologna Italy and was the youngest son of Massimo Cordero del Marchesi di Montezemolo (1920–2009), a Piedmontese aristocrat whose family served the Royal House of Savoy for generations.

Having graduated with A masters degree in law from Columbia he joined the Italian auto giant FIAT where he rose through the ranks quickly. In November 1991, FIAT chairman Gianni Agnelli appointed Luca to become the chairman of the Ferrari group.

He set about restructuring the loss making road car business and appointed Jean Todt as the boss of the Formula One team in a bid to end the Scuderia’s longest drought in the sport without winning a championship.

 

 

 

Montezemolo saves Ferrari

Under the leadership of Luca de Montezemolo, Jean Todt and Ross Brawn and with German ace driver and two times world champion Michael Schumacher, Ferrari broke their sixteen year run of no trophies in 19990 as they claimed their eleventh constructors’ championship.

Under the watchful gaze which at times was much more hands on, Montezemolo oversaw the most success era for the Scuderia in F1 as they claimed six consecutive team titles along with five for their star driver Michael Schumacher.

On 10 September 2014, Montezemolo resigned as president and chairman of Ferrari following increasing tension with his would-be successor, FIAT Chrysler CEO, Sergio Marchionne, who would deliver another huge turnaround in the Ferrari road car division which was faltering as the FIAT 500 was reintroduced and became an instant hit.

Luca de Montezemolo is a legend in Italy for the salvation he brought to the Ferrari road car company along with the glory which returned to Maranello during the Michael Schumacher era. Now speaking on La politica nel pallone on Radio GR Parlamento, he weighs in on the debate amongst the tifosi over whether Hamilton was the right choice of diet for the Scuderia.

Hamilton exit sparks redemption with Bottas return

 

 

 

Mercedes force Hamilton’s hand

Hamilton was backed into a corner by Mercedes who refused his request for a Mercedes ambassador role and offered him just a one year guaranteed contract coming into the 2024 F1 season. Clearly disgusted with his former team’s view of his future worth, Lewis picked up the phone to the new Ferrari chairman, John Elkann, and negotiated a minimum two year deal with the Scuderia.

Of course this meant Carlos Sainz had to be ditched, a driver who has proven to be close in performance to Ferrari’s protege Charles Leclerc. In fact Sainz was the perfect foil for the Monegasque driver who is quick but often makes needless mistakes. Sainz on the other hand whilst more steady has a consistency Leclerc clearly lacks and the pair together this year almost mounted a successful charge to Ferrari’s first constructors title for seventeen years.

Italian commentators are divided over the appointment of Hamilton, some see it as a coming together of global brands which will do well for Ferrari’s image. Whilst others are unsure of why F1’s most iconic team has appointed a driver with just two Grand Prix wins to his name over the past three years – and one of those was a gift when Russell was disqualified from P1.

Both drivers will be hungry for success with Hamilton chasing a record eight drivers world title. Charles Leclerc now entering his eight year in F1 has been around for long enough to realise, should Ferrari build a title winning car this could be his only chance of becoming world champion and is up against the most successful driver the sport has ever seen.

Horner’s weakness led to committee decision over Lawson

 

 

 

Hamilton is “a risk”

“The choice of Lewis Hamilton on one hand is a risk because you take a champion who has won a lot and who comes to Ferrari to win and on the other there is a Leclerc who despite having good races has never won and the years go by,” observes Montezemolo.

The former head of Ferrari believes the driver line up was not in fact the problem Ferrari was suffering from. The team had chopped unchanged its team principal five times in just eleven seasons on the appointment of Fred Vasseur who appears to have steadied the ship in Maranello which appeared to be foundering under the previous ‘divisive’ leadership of Mattia Binotto.

“In recent years, Ferrari’s problem has not been related to the drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are strong,” noted the ex-Ferrari chairman who questions the notion that the Hamilton move was merely a global marketing opportunity.

Montezemolo sees the Michael Schumacher in Lewis Hamilton, although whether its Ferrari Michael the first time around – or Mercedes Michael who Hamilton replaced only time will tell.

Rosberg observes Norris weakness he must fix

 

 

 

Ferrari driver pairing must deliver

“Hamilton is a phenomenon like Verstappen: his arrival in Ferrari is not a marketing operation, he wants to end his career by winning in red,” continued the iconic Ferrari leader.

Ferrari were closing in on McLaren as the 2024 season final run in played out. The pairing of Sainz and Leclerc was stronger than that of Piastri and Norris, despite the Aussie claiming victory in Mexico and podiums in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi.

And the pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will be equally important in Ferrari’s quest for a first title in seventeen years, yet Montezemolo believes there is an even more important factor the team must deliver.

Brother Ralf fumes over Schumi decision

 

 

 

The Scuderia must raise its game

“It will be a very interesting year for Ferrari, provided that they manage to bridge the gap with McLaren to start already competitive from the first race, they make a car capable of winning in all conditions and there is also clarity of management within the team,” the icon Ferrari leader concluded.

Ferrari began well this year with a win for Sainz in Australia and four other podiums during the first four events of this season. Post Japan, Ferrari were just 22 points behind Red Bull Racing and Leclerc and Sainz were in the hunt behind the Red Bull pairing in the drivers’ title race.

Yet a development upgrade during the European season saw the team fall away as McLaren became the main contenders to challenge Red Bull for the constructors’ title this year.

Colapinto update following Red Bull rejection

 

 

 

Red Bull axe Tsunoda

Red Bull are cleaning house in their Formula One driver lineups and the once joint favourite to replace Sergio Perez may now be out of F1. Yuki Tsunoda was signed by Honda to their racing programme back in in 2016 and two years later he was awarded a place within the Red Bull driver academy.

The optics were [plain for all to see. Red Bull were being supplied their power units by Honda and hey presto, they have a Japanese driver in their junior F1 team. Yuki has never been considered by the team’s management as the VCARB team leader, in fact when Nyck de Vries was announced for 2023, Dr. Helmut Marko stated despite being an F1 rookie, he would assume the role of the leading driver.

De Vries was gone ten race weekends later. In came Daniel Ricciardo who faired reasonably well against his Japanese team mate but come Singapore this year, Tsunoda waved goodbye to another team mate… READ MORE