It gives me a warm feeling inside to see at least part of F1 returning to the good old days. To read Luca di Montezemolo's recent comments to Gazzetta dello Sport takes me back to the days when the entire world was at fault for Ferrari mistakes, when weaknesses could not be admitted and the cars never lost races, the drivers did.
Felipe Massa
Apparently, it is "humiliating" for the sport to rely on Safety Car periods to spice up races. Strange that Luca should never have mentioned this before, considering that the SC has been around for years and its appearance always has an effect on race results. I recall many races won by Michael Schumacher thanks to SC periods and yet no muttering from the Ferrari camp about humiliation at the time. The purist will point out that the SC often wipes out an advantage built by the skill of the leader over most of the race, but the majority of F1 fans are happy to see things mixed up a bit and unexpected drivers standing on the podium. The SC is an unfortunate solution to one of racing's problems but it is hardly humiliating.
The temptation is to believe that Luca is really smarting under the humiliation of his team completely botching a race that they should have won easily. And the pill that Luca needs to swallow is the fact that he had his part to play in the fiasco that was Ferrari's Singapore GP. It was he who disbanded the dream team that swept all before it and it is he who now issues his decrees for the team to meet, so placing unnecessary pressure on Stefano Domenicali, who still struggles to weld the team into the efficient machine they were so recently.
But Luca continues to demand that the team produce the results he requires; now he is expecting one-two finishes in the three GPs that remain. Domenicali may protest that his team makes no more mistakes than they did in the Todt/Brawn/Schumacher days, but it is obvious to everyone that they have fouled things up more often in the last two seasons than the triumvirate managed in their entire existence. It is no shame to be less than the most effective team ever known to F1 and a little realism and humility would go a long way to solving Ferrari's problems.
Realism is a rare commodity in the Scuderia's world, however, and Luca blames street circuits as well as the SC for the catastrophe that was Ferrari's race in Singapore. There is no overtaking, he claims, apparently unaware that Rosberg and Hamilton, amongst others, managed it. Perhaps it is just too painful for him to remember that Massa was passed late in the race by Robert Kubica, something that should have been impossible according to Luca.
And now Luca is going to take the matter to the other team managers, no doubt in his capacity as the head of FOTA. It means nothing that they have already expressed their happiness with the Singapore GP, some even declaring it to be the way forward for the sport. Somehow I doubt that they are going to be swayed in their judgement by such sour grapes from Ferrari.
I will grant that Luca has done the right thing this season in always being supportive of his drivers. There does come a point, however, where one must honestly assess a situation if one is ever to solve problems. He may consider Massa to be "the best" but it is wrong to ignore the rumors that the Brazilian can only win from the front. He was unbeatable while in the lead in Singapore but made many mistakes when fooling around at the back of the field.
Raikkonen, too, has failed to live up to his reputation, apparently satisfied to post fastest laps as if apologizing for far too many lackluster races. The reality is that this just raises more questions, making us wonder why he is unable to perform at that level throughout the race.
Luca does his team no favors by taking such an unrealistic view of their capabilities. He should, perhaps, have taken a lesson from Dr Mario Theissen on how to handle a driver who suddenly finds himself disadvantaged by circumstances beyond his control. Earlier this year, it was common knowledge that Nick Heidfeld was having difficulties in qualifying, since his driving style was not warming the tires quickly enough. Dr Mario ensured that the team worked with Nick (even to the extent of annoying Kubica, who wanted just as much attention) until the problem was overcome; this, surely, should have been Ferrari's approach with Raikkonen.
The Ferrari system of lights for pit release should also have been thrown away after the Valencia GP. It was a pretty idea but was shown to be badly flawed long before Singapore. A driver will always react to a lollipop being thrust in his face after early release but is unlikely to respond so quickly to a light that changes and then changes back. The team's persistence with the system after Valencia shows most clearly that they are not being honest with themselves - and that can only be the result of the pressure being applied by Luca.
The Ferrari president can continue to huff and puff in the face of reality (and I, not being a Ferrari fan, hope he does) but he is not helping the team when he does so. The truth is that he needs to stick to what he does best, selling road cars, and he should leave the F1 team to his chosen manager.