Montezemolo-McLaren: what a slap in the face to Ferrari!

Another slap in the face to Ferrari. In fact from within, what's more. After the repeated triumphs of the Endurance planet, exalted by John Elkann (who also dived into sailing with the same spirit as Le Mans) and such as to embarrass and put in a position of fragility that of Formula 1 - DNA and once the fulcrum of the Red - now comes the news that Luca Cordero di Montezemolo joins McLaren . Yes, you read that right: the man who in the 70s as sporting director (2 consecutive drivers' and 3 constructors' titles) and for 23 years from 1991 as president (6 drivers' and 8 constructors' titles) brought 19 world championship victories to Maranello , has been chosen by the sovereign fund of Abu Dhabi (CYVN Holdings) for the board of McLaren Group Holdings Limited , the company that governs the papaya galaxy, namely McLaren Automotive (the road supercars), McLaren Racing (the F1 team and more) and McLaren Licensing founded to commercially exploit the brand.

This is how Montezemolo 's appearance at the start of the season in the Bahrain paddock can be read in a different light, as a guest of Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, 11 years after Monza 2014, which marked his end in Red. In a Ferrari in disarray, he was dismissed by Sergio Marchionne , with Elkann 's approval. A slap in the face that the 77-year-old manager, a native of Bologna but raised in the Cuneo area (a land where he returned to devote himself to agriculture, as he said in a recent interview) has never digested, feeling betrayed by the very Family that he had saved as Fiat president in tragic years for the Turin company (2004-2010). A slap evidently returned now, becoming one of the nine members of the McLaren Board, alongside the former n.1 of Rolls-Royce ( Torsten Müller - Ötvös ) and Paul Steven Walsh , executive chairman of McLaren Racing . The reference brand in F1 also thanks to another former Ferrari golden man: Andrea Stella.

And all this is happening while Ferrari is tossed around by rumors of yet another revolution, with the shadow of Antonello Coletta , the man from the World Endurance Championship , behind Fred Vasseur . Rumors never denied by either president Elkann or CEO Vigna . A deafening silence that does not help the work in Maranello , where the SF-25 was born badly and has so far been developed little. And without great results. Even yesterday in Austria , where it took to the track with the second new floor, the car did not give any clear feedback on the stopwatch. Furthermore, it was a hectic Friday, with Hamilton slowed down by a gearbox problem (later replaced) and Leclerc stopped in the morning to leave the wheel to the young Dino Beganovic . Despite letting it slip that the engine mappings were low, the gap from McLaren remains enormous: 6 tenths Charles, 9 Lewis .

The drivers are complaining, again. "I can't say I'm completely satisfied with the feeling with the car yet. As usual, the race pace is good, while we need to work a bit to improve the qualifying setup, so that we can start further up the grid and be able to fight for the top positions in the race," said Leclerc , 5th. "We're not where we'd like to be in terms of pace yet. There's still work to do: we'll continue to look for the right adjustments together with the team," said Hamilton , 10th. Vasseur can only appear before the microphones smiling and optimistic. "We need to analyse the data on the new floor in more depth: the morning was a bit chaotic for us, but the drivers' feelings were good. We'll have to make some adjustments, but the pace was good," said the team principal, calm even when commenting on the rumours about his position. "How's the atmosphere in the team? We're trying to stay focused on the job at hand: it's very important to stay focused by working as a group. And so far we're doing well. We are totally committed and focused on this weekend " reassures the French manager, who ends with a joke: "Do I sleep at night? Of course, I sleep very well". The important thing, however, is that Ferrari wakes up. And that it does so quickly and well.