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"This is a very emotional moment I’m
confronting with anticipation, but I won’t
know where we stand before the Saturday of
the qualifying in Bahrain," said Ferrari
President Luca di Montezemolo at the launch
of the new F10 this morning. |
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"The
presentation was very emotional, because I was excited.
For me, Ferrari, together with my family, is the most
important thing in my life.” With these words Chairman
Luca di Montezemolo opened the press conference held in
Fiorano at the presentation of the F10 this morning.
“This is a very emotional moment I’m confronting with
anticipation, but I won’t know where we stand before the
Saturday of the qualifying in Bahrain. The team worked
with determination and unity I haven’t seen for a long
time.”
The numerous
journalists present at the press conference asked him about
his point of view regarding Schumacher’s comeback and the
Chairman replied: “I like Schumacher and I’m this misdeed’s
author. It was me who woke his desire to come back to racing
and honestly I never thought I’d see him in a car that
wasn’t a Ferrari. He’s a competitor, an opponent, like many
others. I’m not worried about the possibility that he might
have taken material from our development.”
Regarding the
situation of the Scuderia Ferrari drivers the Chairman
confirmed: “When Ferrari decided in 2005 to take Raikkonen
the alternative was Alonso, who now finds himself in a
fundamental moment of his life. He’s matured, young and
strong; he has won two World Championships, one in 2005 and
one in 2006, beating us 100%. We don’t have any problem as
far as our drivers are concerned. We have Massa, who is back
with further enthusiasm, we have Alonso I just told you
about and then we have Fisichella as the third driver and
two very experienced test drivers: Marc Gene and Luca
Badoer."
The journalists
asked many questions regarding renewals and stability for
Formula 1: “Formula 1 needs a season of great renewal with
three main objectives: technology, because it has to become
the avant-garde to anticipate extreme and innovative
technology for road cars; it has to regain credibility and
it needs justice to guarantee stability. Furthermore the
cost is an important factor - I don’t want a Formula 1 with
lower performance – and also stable rules. As far as the
rules are concerned the Ferrari Chairman said he was “very
much in favour of qualifying without full tanks like in the
past and the choice of tyres. This is a start, with the
collaboration from all of us. I think that teams and
Federation can look ahead and do many things.”
One journalist
asked about Valentino Rossi’s possible arrival at Ferrari:
“I want to be a little more general: I spoke about the
possibility of a third car, but I didn’t say that Ferrari
needs to have three cars. I’m well aware of the objections
coming from the small teams. I was talking from the point of
view of the interest of Formula 1 and of potential new
entries in Formula 1. The third car could also be helpful
for young drivers, to let them grow. It’s not right that a
boy, who has never driven in Formula 1 starts into a race
without training and tests. Here’s the idea: I would happily
give a Ferrari to an American, German or Australian team and
let the car be managed by them. They would definitely spend
less than if they had to build a car on their own from
scratch. They could hand it over to a talented and strong
driver or try it with a young driver with a certain
potential. I told Domenicali to work on the possibility that
some teams, like ours, could hand over cars to other teams.”
Talking about Rossi the Chairman said: “He’s a friend and an
undisputed champion, from Emilia-Romagna, a great fan of
Formula 1 and engines, and also a potential Formula 1
Champion. If there was the possibility in 2011 and he wanted
to do it and had the possibility for testing and adapting to
F1, then why not?”
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