After the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, won by Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren, Luca di Montezemolo, the Ferrari chairman, told Gazzetta dello Sport of his disappointment that the McLaren drivers had been allowed to continue to race for the drivers’ title, a separate award that has existed since the series began in 1950.
“I still think that in the spying affair it was a big mistake not to disqualify the McLaren drivers as well,” he said. “It means that if Hamilton wins the championship, he will also win it thanks to Ferrari, because there is a lot of Ferrari in his car.” Brad Spurgeon, InternationalHeraldTribune
The Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo is a highly intelligent individual and he knows that whatever he says will be slavishly reported because of who he is - and because of the newspapers he controls. But his recent attempts to undermine McLaren’s success this year by claiming that the British team has copied the Ferrari are utterly unfair. There is not a shred of evidence that would stand up in a proper court that McLaren used any of the Ferrari information that ended up in the hands of McLaren’s Mike Coughlan in April to design and develop the current car - which was designed eight months (and more) before Coughlan received anything from Ferrari’s Nigel Stepney. GrandPrix
Lewis Hamilton will owe his success to Ferrari if he wins the formula one world title in China this weekend, according to the Italian team’s president, Luca di Montezemolo.
McLaren, Hamilton’s team, were found guilty by the FIA last month of using Ferrari technical information and Di Montezemelo feels this will taint any triumph for Hamilton. The British team were fined and banned from the constructors’ championship but their drivers escaped sanctions because the FIA had granted them an amnesty in exchange for evidence. Tom Davies, The Guardian
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