Ferrari president: F1 has three options for the future

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo argues that F1 has three possible future directions - to continue with current majority owners CVC Capital Partners, jump ship to News Corp/Exor...or for the teams to take control themselves
Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo claims F1 has 'three alternatives' regarding the direction that it takes beyond the end of next year – as he insists that the sport must move with the times and 'invest for the future'.

There is much talk right now about what will happen in F1 once the current commercial rights-governing Concorde Agreement expires at the end of 2012, with the recent confirmed News Corp/Exor interest having stirred up a veritable hornet's nest.

Teams have thus far conducted their negotiations solely with the sport's current majority owners CVC Capital Partners and Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management (FOM) organisation, but ostensibly, there may now be another party in the equation, should News Corp/Exor be serious about a potential buy-out – although Ecclestone is adamant that they are not [see separate story – click here].

With teams unhappy at the share of the F1 revenue that they presently receive in relation to how much goes into the coffers of CVC, and having espoused the benefits of launching a separate 'breakaway' series on several occasions in the past, it is perhaps unsurprising that di Montezemolo is now again suggesting that it would be wise to consider all the relevant options – only this time, given Italian investment firm Exor's very tangible link to Ferrari, his threat should perhaps be afforded greater credence.

“I think we have to be very pragmatic,” the 63-year-old told CNN. “At the end of 2012, the contracts of every single team with CVC will expire – so we have three alternatives. We renew with CVC, or theoretically – as the basketball teams did in the US with great success – we create our own company like the NBA to run the races, the TV rights and so on, or third, we find a different partner.

“Bernie Ecclestone has done a very good job, but he has already sold out three times, so he doesn't own the business anymore. It is CVC that will sell. It will be the teams' decision. At the end of 2012, the contract will expire, so theoretically, CVC doesn't own anything. I think it is important to have alternatives. We will see. We have time to do it.”

Of chief concern to di Montezemolo is what he describes as the 'artificial' and confusing flavour of the racing engineered by the raft of regulation changes implemented in F1 2011 – with overtaking having been significantly facilitated by Pirelli's deliberately fast-degrading tyres, the introduction of DRS and the return of the power-boost KERS technology. He also spoke about his distaste for the in-season ban on testing, and the necessity for the sport to embrace new media by providing maximum exposure for the sponsors who invest so much into it.

“We have gone too far with artificial elements,” the Italian underlined. “It's like if I push footballers to wear tennis shoes in the rain. I want to see competition, I want to see cars on the track; I don't want to see competition in the pits. In the last race there were [more than] 80 pit-stops. Come on, it's too much, and people don't understand anymore because when you come out of the pits you don't know what position you're in.

“I think we have gone too far with the machines, too many buttons – the driver is focussing on the buttons to give him authorisation to overtake. Ferrari will push a lot with the authority (the FIA), with the respect we have for the Federation and the other teams, to avoid going too far with F1 because I think it can create problems for the television people and on the racetrack. We are not able to do testing [either] – F1 is the only professional sport in the world where you can't train or test.
“We have to improve new technologies in F1 for the people watching on television, for iPad, for the internet. We have to invest in the US. F1, thanks also to Bernie Ecclestone, has become a worldwide sport; now we have to find the best solution. It is important to invest for the future and the other teams. I think we are in front of a very important moment.”

Every inch the politician that many believe he will one day become, di Montezemolo – who it is understood met with Daimler chairman Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz and McLaren shareholder Mansour Ojjeh in Stuttgart yesterday (Saturday) to discuss the situation – urged that Ferrari's close ties to Exor do not put the team in a more advantageous position than any of its rivals, and he concluded the interview by talking drivers, warmly praising Fernando Alonso and seeming to suggest that the under-fire Felipe Massa will be going nowhere next season.

“Yes, yes,” he answered, when asked whether Massa's seat was safe for 2012 in the wake of speculation variously linking Mark Webber, Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button to replacing the Brazilian at the Scuderia. “He has a contract with us for this year [and] for next year, so absolutely yes, no question about it.

“Alonso is very, very strong. He is one of the best drivers I have seen in my career, very strong in the mind, pushing the team, but in a constructive way and also very close to the team. I want to keep Alonso a long time.”

Ground effect abandoned as teams plan for 2013

A FOTA technical proposal to rival that of the FIA has been put forward for approval ahead of the 2013 F1 season.

There will be no return of ground effect technology when F1 overhauls its technical specification for the 2013 world championship, after teams gave their support to alternative, and cheaper, means of limiting performance.

The FIA had recruited F1 veterans Patrick Head and Rory Byrne to formulate technical regulations that would, at once, make the cars both more efficient and more challenging to drive, without compromising performance too much. Despite the pair coming up with a set of rules, based around the return of shaped floors last seen in the ground effect era, they were opposed by the teams, which felt that a series of aerodynamic restrictions could achieve the same result, but at far less expense. Ironically, Byre was also involved in devising the alternative proposal which, according to a BBC exclusive, looks set to be set in stone at a meeting of F1's technical working group on Wednesday.

Among the changes included on the FOTA proposal, which seeks to mirror the FIA's target of 35 per cent less fuel consumption with a drag co-efficient of around 0.7Cd, will be a front wing of reduced width, a shallower rear wing albeit with DRS retained, significantly lower noses, a restriction of front wing endplate design and a limit on extraneous bodywork, particularly between the front wheels and sidepods.

"The only point of contention between FOTA and the FIA has been on the tunnelled floor, having a shaped undertray," Williams' Sam Michael told the BBC, "Everything else is pretty much the FIA proposal, or pretty close to it with just some tweaks. The biggest concern was that it's a massive amount of investment for the teams.

"It's quite a big departure. If you were going to go down that route and have a very different set of drag and lift coefficients that you couldn't achieve with the current rules, fine, that's different. But the teams saw it as a massive amount of investment and work for something we don't really understand. We're not scared of that but, if you do spend all that money, why do that and not something you can get to very quickly and cheaply with the current floor. The FIA understood that in the end."

Vettel: This is great - especially after Friday...

Sebastian Vettel: It was a great result today – especially after I gave the team so much work on Friday. I hope giving a victory back goes some way to help them forget it.

Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel was delighted after winning the F1 2011 Turkish Grand Prix today at Istanbul Park and said the victory was payback after his shunt in Friday practice.

Vettel led the race pretty much throughout, bar for when he first stopped for tyres, and in the end he finished 8.8 seconds up on his team-mate, Mark Webber, in the sister Adrian Newey-penned RB7.

It was his third win of the season and the result increases his lead as he looks to retain the drivers' crown and he will now go to Barcelona in two weeks time with a 34 point cushion.

“It was a great result today – especially after I gave the team so much work on Friday,” said the reigning world champion. “I hope giving a victory back goes some way to help them forget it.

“Saturday morning was crucial. When I walked into the garage everyone gave me the impression that nothing is wrong and there was nothing to worry about. The whole team was working so hard to get the car back together and times like these are important.

“The team are close to me and if they are not happy or unmotivated it reflects on me and the other way round, so after being a bit down on Friday, it picked me back up.

“In the race today we had a very good first stint and got a gap and you can always benefit from that cushion. At the end I did two short stints, which was the right thing to do – it was seamless today.”

Despite a dominant run though, Vettel isn't taking anything for granted and warned that it won't always be so easy.

“We don't know what happens next, so we have to take it race by race,” he continued. “There will be days when we are beaten for definite, but we need to minimise the loss – but for today, it was a really great result for everyone at the team.”