Di Montezemolo calls F138 “The Hopeful One”

2013 Australian Grand Prix

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Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has called their team’s 2013 car “The Hopeful One” (“La Speranzosa”) after the team’s promising start to the season in Australia.

Fernando Alonso finished second with Felipe Massa in fourth place, putting the team in the lead of the constructors’ championship.

“La Speranzosa’ is living up to our hopes,” di Montezemolo told the Ferrari website. “We did what we expected to do.”

“We raced a good race, particularly against Red Bull and [Sebastian] Vettel, whom I consider our strongest rival. Our goal was to make it to the podium and we did that.”

“That’s definitely a positive start to the championship and will be good for the team psychologically: for the mechanics, the technicians and the drivers. It was important to start the season well as that hadn’t happened in the last two years.”

Montezemolo added his praise for Massa, who started the season closer to Alonso’s pace than he did last year: “I’m satisfied with Felipe Massa’s performance – he was very fast in qualifying and delivered a brilliant race.

“Fernando Alonso also did very well. He looked motivated and happy to have seen the first good responses to the tests confirmed on the track. So now, it’s feet back on the ground because there’s still a lot of work to do.”

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    Keith Collantine
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    46 comments on “Di Montezemolo calls F138 “The Hopeful One””

    1. So Ferrari have actually acknowledged their car isn’t rubbish?! Wow.

      1. Also:

        We raced a good race, particularly against Red Bull and [Sebastian] Vettel, whom I consider our strongest rival.

        Fernando Alonso did not approve this message! ;-)

      2. Could well be the first time in a decade that Montezemolo doesn’t blame anyone…

      3. Such a pathetic statement. Little by little Ferrari is acknowledging their past incompetency, they were hopeless since the end of 2008, now they are competently average. Doing okay is a reason for celebration! Mr Ferrari must be turning in his grave, and Montezemolo is suffering from temporary memory loss, dementia or hypocrisy, or all the above.

        1. @peartree Or they realise how good they are at strategy, reliability and how efficient Alonso is. Montezemolo knows they can win the title if there’s no car much quicker than theirs.

      4. Ferrari and Alonso were praising the F2012 midway the season, it wasn’t until Hungary when they once again started to fall behind in development, that they bashed their car again!

        Nevertheless, it’s nice to see Ferrari quicker than Red Bull in Melbourne. That’ll give me something to smile about, don’t you agree, @vettel1 ? :-)

        1. @kingshark – for sure it’ll give you something to smile about, although he’s got to be a threat to Vettel now though! ;)

          Good to see that Alonso has actually recognised Vettel’s a strong rival without mentioning Adrian Newey @aka_robyn!

          1. When alonso says Vettel he automatically means Newey. hehe

    2. “I’m satisfied with Felipe Massa’s performance – he was very fast in qualifying and delivered a brilliant race.”

      Of course he is satisfied, because he didn’t take points from his team mate. If I was Massa, I would better drive for smaller team, than to act as number 2 driver, whose only purpose is to score points for team and take away points from his team mate’s rivals.

    3. “La Speranzosa” sounds good, certainly better than “LaFerrari” for the latest supercar.

      However, I expect Ferrari to rely not only to hope, but also to some piece of solid engineering to fight for the championship.

      1. You made me laugh so hard, I can hear it now in my head: “Ferrari – Powered by Hope” lol

    4. I hope that McLaren internally don’t call MP4-28 ‘The Hopeless One’.

      1. MB (@muralibhats)
        18th March 2013, 17:59

        +28

      2. The MP4-24-2?

      3. Nah, they “#BelieveInMcLaren” far to much to give up hope @girts

    5. As a long-time Ferrari fan, a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of recent seasons have left me with a sour taste. Not just because of the lack of championships, but also the constant rampages against the sport, other teams, putting blame on anyone but themselves and their constant firing of people when things don’t work out.

      2012 started terribly, but it seemed like they kept their marbles together and worked, rather than blamed. Sure, Luca had some crazy statements, but like someone said above me, it’s a waiting game until Luca makes some crazy statements this season. They didn’t knee-jerk and fired someone and instead kept working, and now they have a car with very good race pace and in the hands of Alonso and a reborn Massa, should be able to get some serious points and perhaps a championship or two.

      Last year Ferrari fans hoped against their better judgment, if they keep this pace up, we might be looking at Ferrari’s most solid odds for the championships in years.

      1. I think they acknowledged that they didn’t had the tools to challenge and dominate championships, in a way they travelled back in time to 1996, when they started their process of renovation within Ferrari. Now Ferrari have been upgrading the wind-tunnel and restructuring several other areas of their factories, they haven’t finished the job but the team is much more focused now as their staff Pat Fry and Tombazis have claimed.

    6. Which is Ironic, because he also calls Felipe Massa “The Hopeless One.”

      1. Massa is not hopeless. Last year, he was doing research @ developement during Sunday’s race because the lack of testing during the season…

        1. haha nice one.

      2. The Hopeless One vs Cry Baby

      3. Ferrari has something with names as pointed out at sniffpetrol:
        http://sniffpetrol.com/2013/03/05/laferrari-is-here/
        I almost wetted my pants reading this.

    7. The Ferrari is a fast car but i cant see anyone else but Raikkonen winning in Malaysia. maybe i am showing my inexperience here but ss it fair to say that given the lotus pace and easiness on its tyres, Unless it rains, Raikkonen only needs to stay within 20 seconds of the leading care and just make one pitstop to win the race?

        1. arrggg *one LESS pitstop.

      1. Well I have seen some onboard footage from kimi and that turn in on the lotus is Incredible. The rear end seems to be planted as well, i suspect them to be strong in malaysia. I believe that mercedes will also be strong with their developed suspension trick on a twisty track

        1. Well Australia is a soft suspension track with emphasis on front-end grip, different from most tracks, so let’s wait.

      2. You might be right, but it’s a bit early to say, particularly considering the unusual conditions in Aus. Lets not forget that in China last year, due to unusual conditions the tyre munching WO3 won by 20 seconds, making one less pits top than most.

        1. Cause Button decided to block faster cars, which they gladly agreed to and destroyed their tyres as result.

      3. You on to something, just compare the gaps from last year. This year’s Australian GP wasn’t even close.

      4. Nah, Kimi won because Massa and Alonso couldn’t pass Vettel in the first stint. In Malaysia it’s easier to overtake. Massa for the win!

      5. Credit to Lotus for chancing a two stop against Ferrari and RB playing safe with three stops. Now though, I’m certain the teams will use Friday practice to test set ups for fewer stops, so it’s still open.

        1. @ivano
          I don’t think Ferrari and Red Bull played it safe. You’ll agree that Ferrari and Red Bull are actually very sharp when it comes to strategy.
          I just think that it was a best strategy from their point of view. Problem is, Red Bull just didn’t have a pace of Ferrari and Lotus, no matter the strategy, while Ferrari who had a pace was stuck behind slower Red Bull for half a race. Fair play to Lotus though, for having a great car and knowing how to use it.

      6. Malaysia will be very different from this years Australian GP, and the other teams will be prepared for this type of strategy from Lotus, so anything could happen – including very bad weather conditions. But good to see Kimi back on the top the podium. I expect RBR to be stronger in the race in Malaysia, compared to Aus.

    8. Ferrari if they fail to win any championships:

      You were the hopeful one! It was said that you would help us win championships, not lose them! You were to bring balance to Ferrari, not leave them in darkness!

      1. You overestimate my power!!

    9. Are they maybe in a good enough mood to let McLaren “borrow” internal documents about pushrod suspension?

    10. He is just digging a hole now, they not going to win and now he got one less excuse. Ferrari not going to win that Championship until LdM steps away from F1 team.

      1. @kimi4WDC: I like your username. Here’s hoping for the same. :)

    11. I believe Luca has done a fantastic job at Ferrari. He’s resurrected the F1 team twice, first in the 70’s, then with the rebuild around Schumacher, and has turned it into a profitting business, eventhough I don’t agree with Dubai world. So for me, what he says in his picky and swaying rule, means he knows whats he’s doing for the final objective.

      1. Yes he really has. He was there when Kimi was driving too and that was a good stint. :)

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