Montezemolo: Ferrari new guard have been lucky

Former Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo claims that Maranello’s new guard has been lucky to be so successful in 2015.

The Maranello marque’s long-time and now former president admits that the end of his tenure following a power struggle with Sergio Marchionne was not a happy one.

He is therefore critical of how new president Marchionne and team boss Maurizio Arrivabene framed the preparation for 2015.

“In their place, I would not have argued in December that 2015 would be an ordeal because huge mistakes were made in the preparation for the new season,” he said, “and that winning two races would be a miracle.”

Montezemolo claims those sorts of comments were, at best, “inelegant, but it’s water under the bridge.”

Indeed, he also thinks Ferrari’s new guard is doing a good job, “We must thank them. But honestly I think they had a little luck. This year, apart from Mercedes they have no competitors. Williams has not improved.”

“Red Bull, they have imploded — a mutual friend told me that (Dietrich) Mateschitz is thinking of selling and is trying to convince Audi to come in.

“McLaren is in crisis,” Montezemolo continued. “So at every race Ferrari has a podium in its pocket. But when you have luck, you also have to know how to use it.

“To me that is a merit [of Marchionne and Arrivabene],” he insisted. “So is the intelligence not to throw overboard the positive things that had been done before them.”