In the Glow Of Victory: Montezemolo Speaks
24.8.01

Luca di Montezemolo held a press conference in Maranello the day after Scuderia Ferrari picked up both World Championships. Here is a summary of the main points made by the President .

He firstly wanted to thank Jean Todt.

"Todt must take a lot of the credit, because we have worked with clearly defined roles and competence and with team spirit. I wish to say that I owe a lot to the work Todt has done and I am also happy to tell you that Todt will join the Ferrari Administration Council.

" Along with Todt, I should name 700 people. I am not going to do that, because I am bound to forget someone and also because I do not want to give the opposition too much information as to their names. Everyone wants people who work for Ferrari and this is a logical and normal situation in a competitive world and I take pleasure from it. So, I can't name all 700 but will name just a few who are the standard bearers for so many of their colleagues and fellow workers.

" I will start with Ross Brawn. I think Brawn is the best Technical Director there is. He is a first class person and he has been able to come on board, improve still further and be perfectly integrated with the climate, the mentality and the men of Ferrari. We owe a lot to the work he has done.

" Then we have Paolo Martinelli and Gilles Simon who have worked very well in everything that concerns development, innovation and reliability of the engines and in integrating their work with that of Rory Byrne, who is responsible for the design of the car. The synergy and collaboration between the engine and chassis side has been one of the key elements.

"I also want to say thank you to Schumacher. Michael has had a fantastic weekend [in Hungary]. He drove fantastically, just as he did in the qualifying session. He has always been exceptional throughout the time he has been with us, both in and out of the car. Barrichello drove a very important race for us from a tactical point of view. He was very quick and could have been on the front row, but given the track conditions it was actually better that he started from where he did on the grid.

"Summing up our innovations is easy: we made a better car than the others, in terms of performance and reliability, thanks to the abilities of our staff and thanks to the suppliers.I only mention Bridgestone and Shell, but behind them stand the best suppliers from Italy and the rest of the world, all working with Ferrari."

Montezemolo finished with a quick look at the near future. "I think that now, everyone has already been concentrating for some time on next year's car. The stability of the team means I have nothing excitingly new to tell you about a new sporting director, a new technical director, a new engine director. I am sorry for you, but you know who they are and nothing will change for some time. We have nothing to announce on the driver side either.

" I see that some of our competitors who used to announce their driver line-up early are unable to do so now. That is their problem. I see that so many people talk about Ferrari and make judgements about our drivers. I have seen recent declarations from Ron Dennis. I have a friend who is a psychiatrist, one of my best friends, and I can recommend him to Ron Dennis to give him some help. We build the entire car here: In the past someone said Ferrari would only win if we bought a Williams and painted it red. We chose to do our best in-house."

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