Di Montezemolo calls for return of F1 testing
Ferrari's leading man, Luca Di Montezemolo has called upon the FIA to reform Formula One in a drastic way. The Italian noted that the current regulations render it impossible to transfer any technology to road cars, something which "has to change".
At the Finale Mondiali, Di Montezemolo started off with congratulating Ferrari with what they have achieved this year, focusing on their cars as a team, rather than as individual players. He also praised Felipe Massa for playing such a vital role in the team, and taking his responsibility when it was clear that only Fernando Alonso was still in with a shot for the championship.
What was more interesting however is Di Montezemolo's call for a radical change in the regulations of Formula one: "There are things that aren’t going well in this sport and the moment has arrived to clarify these once and for all in the appropriate places. We can no longer have a situation in which the transfer of technology from the track to the street is reduced to the bare minimum, engines and gearboxes are always the same and the aerodynamics no longer has anything to do with research for road cars."
Apart from wanting these technical regulation changes, Ferrari is also calling to allow more testing again, something which possibly hurt Ferrari the most when the winter testing limit was introduced.
He added "Moreover, it cannot be that in this sport you can’t test. We’ve been saying this for a while and we will repeat it in the appropriate places so for the moment I don’t want to add anything else. But our patience has run out so someone needs to think about whether they want Formula 1 still to have companies that invest and consider it the most advanced research bench for its own cars – as Ferrari has always done since 1950. We are constructors, not sponsors: I’m no longer happy that we can’t do testing on tarmac and that you can’t give any chance for young drivers to emerge – since some people have used the expression “It’s a joke” in recent days, I would like to say that this is the real “joke”. Yes, I’m referring to one of Ecclestone’s phrases: my father always taught me that you have to have respect your elders, above all when they reach the point that they can no longer control their words. So I will stop there. Certainly, old age is often incompatible with certain roles and responsibilities."
