Ferrari calls for F1 team summit

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo is to invite all the team bosses in Formula One to Ferrari headquarters in Maranello to discuss the future of the sport.

The Formula One boss believes the meeting is required to discuss in detail how to make Formula One better.

These meetings usually dissent into politics with each team looking after their own best interests, but on this occasion Di Montezemolo wants teams to put their own interests to one side and discuss matters beneficial to everybody.

‘I have the intention to invite [all teams] to Maranello, not to discuss a single point that maybe can give an advantage to one team or another, but to talk about the overall approach to Formula 1, I think the people do not have enough opportunities outside of the tough weekend of races – where you have to prepare the car for the races, the sponsors, the television, the public – to have one day peaceful talking each other to look ahead.’ di Montezemolo said during a lunch with selected media including Autosport Magazine.

‘I would like it to be in a very constructive way, without discussing anything relating to competitiveness, to discuss the nature of F1 with the teams.

‘We have to make proposals to do something, without putting anyone in the corner – and not [do deals] under the table. I want to do it in a very open way.

‘I want to have more dialogue between the teams – not about competition, but looking at the problems with F1.’

However while many Formula One fans would welcome the idea of the teams actually putting the sport first ahead of their own agenda’s, the Ferrari president is in favour of the idea of having customer car teams, something the majority within Formula One and the paying public are against.

Ferrari of course would love the opportunity to sell one of it’s chassis to another team on the grid, with the move financially very lucrative to the teams in a position to sell customer cars, whilst those teams at the back of the grid would have to look at the option as it could provide a more competitive and cheaper way to race.

The downside is that it would end any future hope of teams developing in the sport, squeezing the sport and becoming too dependent on the few privileged teams at the front end of the grid and essentially taking away one of the key aspects of Formula One.