Ferrari label Singapore GP humiliating

Eurosport - Wed, 01 Oct 23:45:00 2008

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has poured scorn on the Singapore Grand Prix, saying the "circus" track and the use of the safety car was humiliating for Formula One.

FORMULA 1 2008 Singapore GP Ferrari Räikkönen, Massa - 0

Formula One's first night race drew rave reviews from participants and onlookers, including the sport's delighted supremo Bernie Ecclestone, but was one to forget for the Italian team.

Brazilian title contender Felipe Massa had his race ruined by a bungled pit stop while faltering world champion Kimi Raikkonen crashed near the end.

"When we race on tracks which should be used for the circus, anything can happen including the spectacle of the Safety Car," Montezemolo was quoted as saying in Gazzetta dello Sport.

"All this is humiliating for F1 and it is an aspect I want to talk about with the other teams in the next few weeks."

Singapore saw two safety car interventions, the first of which turned the race upside down and contributed to Spaniard Fernando Alonso's unexpected victory for Renault.

Montezemolo, appointed this month as the first chairman of the Formula One Teams Association, said before the race that street circuits and the lack of overtaking opportunities were not the right way forward for the sport.

Ferrari's failure to score any points in Singapore meant McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, third behind winner Fernando Alonso, extended his championship lead over Massa to seven points with three races left.

Finn Raikkonen is out of contention but Montezemolo still sounded confident.

"We have the best Ferrari, Massa is the best. I expect ... Raikkonen to show he is world champion in the remaining races, to help Massa, to race for the good of the team and to finish in front of the McLarens," he said.

The team president also backed the mechanics who gave Massa the green light during a pit stop despite the fuel hose still being attached to the car as he sped away.

"We have extraordinary mechanics who in other occasions have swung results our way. We must stay close to each other because Ferrari are always world champions and are still in the running to win," Montezemolo added.

Reuters

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  1. Forza, you forgot the overtaking bit, I'm more with your other thought, to get back to real racing tracks, frankly I don't think Singapore is fixable!

    From Bentley Boy, on Wed 1 Oct 2:24PM
  2. Luca di Montezemolo’s conclusion that the Singapore GP was humiliating, IS CORRECT! but not for the reasons he is claiming. It was humiliating to Ferrari! For it was a comical spectacle of huge proportions, with a catalogue of errors, from BOTH Drivers and the WHOLE team.

    Had Ferrari not been so complicit with the FIA, people would not have been so quick to see it as “POETIC JUSTICE” - I guess the saying......”WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND” springs to mind!

    From Ed, on Wed 1 Oct 2:20PM
  3. bobbie, WHAT YOU ARE MISSING IS THAT SINCE MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS FORMULA ONE MAIN EFFORTS ARE DEVOTED TO SECURITY? BOTH ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
    AND THE RESULTS ARE THERE
    REMEMBER kUBICA'S OR KOVALAINEN's ACCIDENTS
    AGAIN? WITH THESE CARS SENNA AND JIM CLARCK WILL BE ALIVE
    SO WHY, JUST BECAUSE OF MONEY, ECCLESTONE INTRODUCES VALENCIA AND SINGAPORE, WITH WALLS AND NO ESCAPE, AT A HIGHER SPEED THAN MONACO5(which have at least an historical justification).
    you don't like Ferrari, it"s your problem, but please remember that it's the only team that is in the F1 championship since the beginning, the only team who manufactures everything, not just the chassis like your dear Mc laren, the only team who still wear the national colour, RED
    do you remember when British car had the BRG, german Silver, French Blue?
    and of course the team with the highest number of titles, both drivers and MFG.
    reading these lines I can only find one reason, beside jalousy, to attack Ferrari so mucj: you, and your anti Ferrari friends, are just behaving like young excited bull, pretty nervous when you see red!
    Please, behave...!!!

    From golf in the kingdom, on Wed 1 Oct 2:10PM
  4. Regarding Singapore, IF they fix the surface, and IF they correct the height of the curbs, then it may be a decent track. However, I would still rather see a race at Kyalami, Imola or Nurburgring.

    From Forza Ferrari, on Wed 1 Oct 2:07PM
  5. I make that 'throwing his rattle out of the pram pram' what is a pram pram?

    From Bentley Boy, on Wed 1 Oct 2:06PM
  6. ClispyDuck, once again I agree with you. As a Ferrari fan, I admit that they got off easy on several occasions. Also, as a Ferrari fan, I want to see unbiased decisions from the FIA so that, if and when Ferrari wins a title, there is no doubt as to the worthiness of their achievements. However, I don't think that it's due to Ferrari influence. I just think that the FIA has it in for McLaren, for reasons unknown. Obviously, any penalty on McLaren benefits Ferrari directly, hence the perception that Ferrari has something to do with it.

    From Forza Ferrari, on Wed 1 Oct 2:05PM
  7. graham; your message must be really clever, I 'm not sure I understood it
    just a little comment: you can say Luca di Montezemolo, or il signor di Montezemolo, but the name alone stands without "di", i.e; "Montezemolo"
    like in English, you say "the duke of Kent", but you dont say "yesterday I met of Kent at the theatre"
    sorry for this, but you seem so smart that you deserve to write Italian well!

    From golf in the kingdom, on Wed 1 Oct 2:02PM
  8. I LOVE this headline. EVERYONE involved was full of praise for the Singapore Grand Prix. Everyone except Ferrari that is. So I guess the rest of the grid is outvoted by 1-9 and the Singapore GP will cease to exist. That's the way F1 works isn't it? Ferrari's 1 vote carries more clout than the other nine? Or am I missing something?

    From R, on Wed 1 Oct 1:57PM
  9. Oh one more thing, why dont Montezemolo goes crying to FIA, whine all you can and persuade them to get Singapore out of F1 race for good so that you will never have a chance to be a fool of yourself and team in front of the international TV!!

    From nicole, on Wed 1 Oct 1:46PM
  10. Playing the blaming game all the time, AGAIN???? If one is to blamed, den push the blame to FIA for choosing Singapore for hosting the night race! Oh Ferrari, U ARE CURSED IN SINGAPORE FOR SURE!!

    From nicole, on Wed 1 Oct 1:44PM
  11. I agree with you Forza. Spa is the only place where Hamilton DID NOT desever his penalty. I thing the greater problem IS that Ferrari drivers have been getting away with things that the others have not. It is the inequality of the decisions that is getting everyone apart from certain people in here annoyed. If stewarding and the FIA showed completely unbiased decision making then none of this stuff would be around and F1 would be great again. It's not as if it is like football. ALL of F1's decisions are subject to video analysis.

    From crispyduck, on Wed 1 Oct 1:40PM
  12. The only thing embarressing was Ferraris lack of organisation, Massa going to pieces and the FIA's inconsistency - someone pass Luca his dummy back as hes spat it out the pram again

    From David, on Wed 1 Oct 1:38PM
  13. di Montezemelo, rearrange these words into a popular phrase.
    pram
    his
    out
    rattle
    of
    pram
    the
    throwing

    From Graham P, on Wed 1 Oct 1:38PM
  14. all the little kids on this site just keep repeating same comments again * & again
    please transfer to GOLF

    From tttobyjug, on Wed 1 Oct 1:18PM
  15. sagittarius1958

    You are way outa your depths on this forum mate. The conspiricy Theorist have thier thoughts based in Facts those who want to can see the facts for themselves those who don't bury thier heads in the sand and breath through their Ahrse .
    Fact : Massa had an unsafe release in Valencia in front of Sutil ---Penalty 10,000 euros
    Fact:: Massa had an unsafe release in Singapore in front of Sutil---Penalty Drive through penalty which added 10 (ten) seconds to his time but he was 18th & dead Last then..(LH would have had the same penalty in spa but his was accessed as being 27 secs theory or hard fact?)
    Fact: Raki-none smacks a force india up the butt (on no not sutil again)---Penalty ..None considered racing incident ????

    From Radcliffe, on Wed 1 Oct 1:03PM
  16. I reckon that Raikkonen has been practising his self-inflicted crashes in order to perfect the move that takes Hamilton out in favour of the red car, thus handing the driver's championship to his team mate. Just watch.

    From Terence P, on Wed 1 Oct 12:54PM
  17. To be fair, Hamilton deserved most of his penalties. Spa is the only one that is debatable to me.

    From Forza Ferrari, on Wed 1 Oct 12:37PM
  18. If Hamilton hadn't been given lots of needless penalties this season there wouldn't even be a contest left. If he'd done to Sutil what Massa did he'd have been demoted on the next grid. Its Crazy and I really hope he wins the Driver's this year to prove to Ferrari that they can't win by cheating and crying to the FIA every time Hamilton sneezes. Its only good drivers and a reliable car that can do that.

    From timothyfkey, on Wed 1 Oct 12:24PM
  19. ClispyDuck, you are spot on. That has always been my problem with Massa. He's great when he leads, but he does not seem to ever be able to pass anyone. Besides the great move that he put on Lewis in Hungary, when is the last time that anyone saw him put a move on anyone? That is the reason that he probably won't be world champion. His only shot is to get pole every race and for Kimi to keep Lewis from getting second place. Otherwise, Lewis will be the champion this year.

    From Forza Ferrari, on Wed 1 Oct 12:24PM
  20. Massa has never been there to be back thathuappu. If it rains at all, it's over. Massa spun 5 times at Silverstone and completely bottled it at Spa. He ONLY looks good beacause Kimi has been so poor this season. I've only seen 1 overtaking maneuver from Massa this year too. It was a good one but surely a great driver should be judged on how he drives through a field to get a result. ALL the greats did that. Massa is just lucky to be in a fast car. He usually can't win unless he's on pole and certainly can't work his way back from a bad situation. If Hamilton climbed his way back to within a point at Monza, why didn't Massa win it? If he wins the championship, I'd be amazed and saddened. Not only because of the Spa outrage but because the best, entertaining DRIVER didn't win. I hope Alonso moves or Kimi gets back to his old self next year. Otherwise, it's Hamilton again and easier than this year. Massa's luck has run out!

    From crispyduck, on Wed 1 Oct 12:06PM
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