Montezemolo: "It is not the end of an era"
Mugello, 24th January 2006 - Ferrari's president, Luca di
Montezemolo, contributed to this morning's press conference
held at the Autodrome of Mugello to present the new 248 F1.
"It is right to change", began the President in
reference to the new location, "to give priority to the
track and to work without losing precious time. Today is an
important day as we are presenting a car that is the fruit
of a precise project that takes into consideration the regulations
and experience of the past years. It is also three years to
the day since Gianni Agnelli passed away; a man I personally
miss very much, as does everybody at Ferrari and Fiat".
President Montezemolo wanted to recall the fact that Ferrari,
over recent years, has always been at the top in Formula 1.
The aim for 2006 was to get back to a championship challenging
position. "After having lost two titles at the last round,
in 1997 and 1998, and six consecutive world crowns, I don't
want the 2005 results to seem like the end of an era. We have
lived through some incredible years. Last year we suffered
a little from the successive rule changes but now we are looking
ahead. We want to get back to winning ways". "The
2006 norms are an improvement, we think", continued Montezemolo
commenting on the modifications made by the Federation. "The
qualifying format will be more exciting and the tyre changes
are back. We also agree with the changes planned for 2008.
Formula 1 has to guarantee overtaking, it has to be an arena
for experimenting with extreme technologies and, at the same
time, optimise costs with cuts made to superfluous spending.
The FIA is going in the right directions and we adhere to
this philosophy as it fits with our ideas of Formula 1. It
is a sport in which we have always been involved and in which
we will continue to be". The President then reflected
on the Scuderia's drivers: "we have on the team a man
like Michael Schumacher, who I consider to be the best driver
who has ever driven for Ferrari, not only in terms of speed
but also of consistency. Michael bonds with the team even
when things are not going well and is able to pull out extraordinary
performances that we all remember. He has perhaps built something
unrepeatable at Ferrari. Now we have Massa, a young driver
of enormous potential who has been with us for years. Working
with Michael will help him very much and it was right to keep
up with the generational changes Formula 1 is witnessing"
Montezemolo then spoke about the technical changes: "We
are living in times of significant change from a technological
point of view. We had been fans of the V12 for many years
and then, in the mid-1990s, were forced to switch to V10 engines
with which we had great success. Now we are back to the V8s
that we last used in 1964 when we won with Surtees. It is
a big challenge in terms of power and reliability. It drives
us all on to do our best along with our partners and technical
suppliers". The President continued: "we are working
with the Centro Ricerche Fiat, our technical partners who
work on the 8 cylinder roadgoing engine, and all our partners,
especially Bridgestone and Shell, to develop the engine and
get the most from the car. It is pleasing to have just renewed
a contract with an extremely important partner like Acer,
who supply cutting edge resources. Martini Racing is another
major partner and a name that is historic in racing and a
symbol of made in Italy".
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