In the various interviews released over the years, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo he never failed to dedicate a thought to “his” Ferrari drivers, the ones who most of all gave him joy in his long stay in Maranello, first as head of the Racing Team and then as president, namely Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher . And also in the recent interview granted to Corriere dello Sport on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of his return to Ferrari in 1991, the Bolognese manager has spent words of esteem for the two legends of Formula 1, who have consecrated themselves under the aegis of the Prancing Horse: “They are the only ones with whom the relationship has gone further. With Niki, above all. Together with Ferrari, very young, I was the sports director and he was an unknown driver. We’ve always been in touch ever since. The last time, two years ago, five days before he died ”.
Regarding the disappearance of Lauda, Montezemolo made a note at the top of Maranello: “I was sorry not to see President Elkann and anyone from Ferrari at the funeral. Niki got herself put in the coffin with the Ferrari suit“. Mattia Binotto and Antonello Coletta attended the funeral ceremony. The former president of the Red team also spoke about Schumacher, confessing: “I didn’t want to see him after the accident, I didn’t feel like it “. A joke also about his farewell to the Italian company: “Marchionne, who wanted to be the absolute boss, sent all my prestigious managers away from the board of directors and approved a rich dividend which he put on the Fiat debt. The way I was turned away hurt me a lot. There remains the pride of having left a healthy and successful company, which I managed not as a manager, but as an entrepreneur. In the evening I went to check if the lights were still on “.
Finally, a nice anecdote, which explains how much, in the collective imagination, Montezemolo will remain forever linked to Ferrari: “Last July I was in Naples, someone approaches me and says: ‘What are you doing here, go to Maranello to work, you are looking like a chocolate maker!’. I had been out for seven years and he was still doing me at Ferrari“. And, as always, the Emilian entrepreneur suffers from the performance of today’s Red: “Days ago a friend sent me a message: ‘Happy and dubbed’. I suffer and remain silent as a fan “.
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