Montezemolo says Ferrari leadership ’glaringly’ absent
"They need to reflect on why"
Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo says the iconic team is now suffering from a glaring lack of leadership.
Ferrari has not won a drivers’ championship since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, and Montezemolo told Spanish newspaper AS that what troubles him most is no longer simply losing titles.
"What I find hardest to accept, as a Ferrari fan, is that they’re no longer there, not even close," he said.
"They need to reflect on why. The drivers aren’t capable of reaching the final race with a chance of winning."
"This makes me sad."
Montezemolo, who oversaw Ferrari through its extraordinarily successful Michael Schumacher era, believes the present structure is missing a powerful figure at the top.
"In F1 you need a perfect organisation and a strong leader," said the 79-year-old.
"Enzo Ferrari was the all-time great, but when I was there next to him, Jean Todt was emerging."
"Today, looking from the outside, I think there’s a lack of leadership. It’s glaring."
The comments land at an awkward moment for Frederic Vasseur, whose position has again become a subject of intense Italian speculation following Ferrari’s Monza collapse.
Italian journalist Giorgio Terruzzi recently claimed on his podcast that Vasseur has even acquired the nickname ’Napoleon’ inside Maranello, with some employees regarding his management style as arrogant or dismissive.
Christian Horner’s name has also resurfaced as a hypothetical alternative.
Lewis Hamilton recently publicly denied Italian reports that he is demanding personnel changes, while Charles Leclerc pushed back in Baku against what he regards as excessive scrutiny of Ferrari’s problems.
"I feel like it’s being over-discussed and over-analysed when it’s about the red cars, and that’s not really fair," Leclerc said.