“Without a leader and without leadership”: Ferrari boss who once scolded Michael Schumacher takes a jibe at Maranello team

Tanish Chachra | 01/12/2022
"Without a leader and without leadership": Ferrari boss who once scolded Michael Schumacher takes a jibe at Maranello team

Ferrari, over the recent years, has seen itself solving its issues to reach the top of Formula 1. The current management in the Italian team has now parted ways with their team principal Mattia Binotto.

With Binotto at the helm of Ferrari, they failed to reconquer the F1 title not only. They succumbed early in the season to Red Bull’s dominance in 2022.

But with Binotto’s exit, the most successful F1 team is in search of not only a suitable candidate but also a technical director, as reportedly the Italian held both positions.

Also read: Pastor Maldonado laughs at Esteban Ocon for being happy to have a new teammate

Leaderless Ferrari says ex-boss

Lucas di Montezemolo is among the most controversial leaders in the history of Ferrari. During his days, he even scolded the seven-time world champion and Ferrari’s heartthrob Michael Schumacher for allegedly faking an injury.

While he had a rift with Schumacher and became one of the reasons for his exit from Ferrari and F1 in 2006, he claims to always think in favour of his team, even if it comes at his expense. Now, seeing the current state of Ferrari, he comments that the F1 team is leaderless.

“I am very displeased and worried about the situation at Ferrari. But in moments like these, since I really love Ferrari so much, I prefer not to comment. Except to say that, to me, it seems like a company without a leader and without leadership,” said Montezemolo.
The former Ferrari chairman is known for making some harsh decisions. But most of the time, he has been right with his decisions. Schumacher’s exit could be argued as one of his wrong steps.

What’s next for them?

The oldest F1 team has reportedly roped Frederic Vasseur from Alfa Romeo as the team principal. The Maranello-based team even approached Christian Horner and Andreas Seidl for the job but was rejected.

Finding a team principal isn’t a problem for Ferrari compared to finding a new technical director. Every top engineer in F1 is usually sent on gardening leave once they resign. The same is the case of Binotto.

Therefore, they will have to do a deeper dive and find someone effective with only three months for the season to start. It remains to be seen how Ferrari will fill in the two crucial vacancies that erupted at their base.

Also read: 8-GP winner Daniel Ricciardo says Red Bull didn’t ‘owe him anything’ after 2018 exit

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
ferrari Luca di Montezemolo Mattia Binotto Michael Schumacher

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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