Montezemolo says Ferrari won’t give up yet
2011 F1 season
Felipe Massa, Ferrari, Valencia, 2011
Luca di Montezemolo says Ferrari will not concede defeat in the 2011 championship yet, despite falling behind Red Bull.
The Ferrari president said: “In the past few days, I have gone over the situation with Stefano Domenicali and his engineers.
“We are working flat out and one can see improvements compared to the early races and this is partly down to adopting a different approach to the development of the car.
“We know the situation in both championships is very difficult, but I don’t want to hear any talk of giving in: we must try to progress continuously and to fight for the win at every race, which is a must for Ferrari.
“Obviously, we have also started talking about the 2012 car, which is normal for this time of year. I have faith in what Domenicali and his team are doing and I am convinced we will see the results of their work
Ferrari are third in the constructors’ championship, 166 points behind leaders Red Bull.
Fernando Alonso is fifth in the drivers’ championship with 99 points separating him and Sebastian Vettel.
Montezemolo praised the quality of racing this year and Pirelli’s contribution to the sport: “I think that it’s been a positive start to the season for Formula 1.
“I have to say the races are all unpredictable and full of overtaking and interesting for the public, both in the grandstands and in front of the television, right to the end. That was one of the objectives this sport had set itself and I believe it has been reached.
“I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Pirelli on its return to Formula 1. In fact, I’m not surprised: we have a great relationship with them and we have known them for a long time, given that historically they have been one of our suppliers for our extreme high performance road cars.”
He added his support for the 2014 engine regulations, saying: “It shows we are working together without pointless counter-proposals or diktat, if it leads to the best outcome for the good of this sport.”
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Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 1st July 2011, 15:33
They wouldn’t be Ferrari if they gave up straight away. Sometimes it’s a good thing, and allows them to bounce back, like when Schumacher helped turn them around. Other times, it’s not so wise, like when they kept trying to develop the F60 when they should have focused on 2010.
Ads21 (@ads21) said on 1st July 2011, 15:44
From what I remember is they pretty much abandoned development early in the 2009 season and concentrated on the F10, which was then followed by a 1-2 in the first race of 2010. Here’s a quote from James Allen in Nov 2009
HoHum (@hohum) said on 1st July 2011, 16:06
@Ads21
, Spoilsport, why let the facts get in the way of a contentious opinion, shame on you.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 1st July 2011, 16:18
They kept bringing upgrades to the car as the season wxed and waned. Sure, they might have spent most of their time working on the F10, but they didn’t completely stop the F60 the way Honda did the RA108.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1) said on 1st July 2011, 15:51
The rules aren’t changing much between 2011 and 2012, so improvements they can make to this year’s car can be useful for next year.
Fixy (@fixy) said on 1st July 2011, 16:04
I remembered the opposite: from half-season the study on the car, after many updates, was stalled. Kimi grabbed many podiums and a win half-season, but when the others brought updates and Ferrari were not, concentrating on the F10, he fell back in the mid-field, and eventually McLaren beat Ferrari to third in the standings.
Fixy (@fixy) said on 1st July 2011, 16:04
I remembered the opposite: from half-season the study on the car, after many updates, was stalled. Kimi grabbed many podiums and a win half-season, but when the others brought updates and Ferrari did not, concentrating on the F10, he fell back in the mid-field, and eventually McLaren beat Ferrari to third in the standings.
Fixy (@fixy) said on 1st July 2011, 16:05
Sorry for the double post!!
ed24f1 (@ed24f1) said on 1st July 2011, 18:35
Yes, I agree. I think the moment they finally stopped developing was right after Massa’s accident.
BasCB (@bascb) said on 1st July 2011, 21:36
I am with you here, they stopped development early that year. Maybe some parts made it on the car, but only when they came from the 2010 development program.
Ben Needham (@ben-n) said on 1st July 2011, 15:48
I think that although they shouldn’t stop yet, it is far beyond them now.
Alonso is 4 full race wins (without reply from Vettel) behind the lead now so the WDC is nearly out of the question and Massa isn’t consistent enough to back the Spaniard for the WCC.
OEL said on 1st July 2011, 16:57
Well, there’s little reason to stop now, as the rules remain pretty much the same for next season.
Adrian Morse said on 1st July 2011, 17:26
Indeed; and I suppose it’s better to try out the things you come up with during a race weekend in 2011, rather than evaluating all new bits in the first pre-season test of 2012.
Spaulding (@spaulding) said on 1st July 2011, 18:31
Lol, so is pretty much everyone else. Vettel and Red Bull have almost completely ran away with this season. However, Vettel is only slightly ahead of where Jenson was in 2009 at a similar point in the season (1 race shy of the halfway point) and Jenson *almost* threw it away in the last half of the season (plus I’m sure we can also remember Hamilton being in the same boat towards the end of the season in 2007 and ACTUALLY throwing it away). With the changes to the rules starting at Silverstone, don’t rule anything out just yet. However, if Red Bull continues their dominance and the rest of the pack keeps taking points off each other, expect this season to be completely wrapped up on both fronts by the time the teams head to Asia in September. If Vettel wins 7 more races this year and crashes out of the other 4, he will clear the entire field by a minimum of 26 points. Ouch.
Klon (@klon) said on 1st July 2011, 18:45
Unfortunately, Vettel is about seven leagues higher than Button (at the very least) and Red Bull has more money than Brawn ever did. Anyone saying this championship is not over is both hopelessly delusional and enviable optimistic.
Trix (@) said on 1st July 2011, 19:34
Enviable optimists of the world, unite!
Nixon (@nixon) said on 1st July 2011, 21:13
Sorry… hopeless case :(
Huron (@huron) said on 2nd July 2011, 0:57
Nothing to do with Jenson almost throwing the season away, but rather due to the fact that Brawn did not have the money to develop the car further.
Faraz said on 2nd July 2011, 10:51
Well how come Barrichello won two races in the latter half of the season??? and was out-qualifying Button consistently after Silverstone??? Button couldn’t keep up.
Daniel said on 1st July 2011, 22:31
Alonso the supercar developer will bring 8 tenths next race!
Aldo said on 2nd July 2011, 0:52
LOL!!!!
Aldo said on 2nd July 2011, 0:54
Of course, the “yet” makes all the difference…
F1 98 said on 2nd July 2011, 6:22
It would be better if massa would leave!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 2nd July 2011, 8:50
How would it?
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 2nd July 2011, 8:49
Expect to hear nothing less from Montezemolo.
Robbie said on 4th July 2011, 15:31
I think LdM would object to the heading ‘won’t give up YET’ Nothing in his quotes say YET. That implies that at some point they WILL give up, and I don’t think that is in this team’s makeup. They will probably have to concede defeat when they are mathematically out of it this year, but that doesn’t mean they will ‘give up’ anything. I’m sure they won’t give up trying to improve, trying to find out where they went wrong this year starting last year when development on this year’s car began, where they can improve for next year etc etc. And once they have to concede from the mathematical standpoint they can and will still start trying different things with the car with next year in mind, especially due to the limited amount of testing even in the off-season.
I just think putting in the ‘yet’ does a disservice to Ferrari by putting a negative spin on them as being a team that will ‘give up’ at some point.