The four S's of Formula One's future - di Montezemolo
During his visit at Wrooom 2009 the issue of the day during the President's short meeting with the media at the Chalet Fiat was the situation in Formula 1 and its future prospects: "I think that this sport has four S's: stability, seriousness, spectacle and sustainability," Montezemolo said.
"Stability means not changing the rules every six months or every year. We need to plan ahead and the spectators remain puzzled by too many changes. Seriousness, because you need a lot to be able to deal with difficult moments: we need to stay united and humble, without ever giving the impression that we're divided. Spectacle means attention to the circuits' layouts, to enable overtaking, to the sporting rules, but also to the use of new technologies such as the internet, high definition and much more that you can introduce in this field. Sustainability, because no company can stay alive if costs and earnings don't balance."
As far as the costs are concerned Montezemolo once more underlined the work done by the teams, united in the FOTA, over the last few months: "We've done some incredible work, cutting costs significantly already as of 2009 and we'll systematically do the same in 2010 and 2011. We'll also confront the issue of earnings: we've got an agreement until 2012 and we've got all the time we need to improve the show and increase income, thinking about the future. We think that Formula 1 has to be a normal sport that is not connected to single people. There must be a triangle: at the top there are the teams, who invest and innovate, today more than ever before; then there's someone who manages the commercial aspects, a type of super agent, just like Ecclestone has been doing; last but not least a sporting and political authority, which takes the teams' unanimity into account and protects the sports nature. My commitment as President has been asked by all the teams: it won't last long, but I'm glad that I managed to convince everybody that we can be competitors on the track and work together off the track. We've reached some extraordinary results, cutting costs without doing something stupid, something Ferrari could have done, such as leaving a Formula 1 without competition and innovation. For us Formula 1 is our life: it's not a coincidence that we've dedicated our new car to the 60th continuous participation of the Team in the World Championship. The company's history is interwoven with the history of Formula 1 and vice versa."
