Op-Ed: The tale of two leaders
Is it just me or does Ferrari seem to be constantly sending out mixed messages? On one side you have Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and on the other you have team principal Stefano Domenicali. I use to think this was a calculated good cop/ bad cop routine from the team that is the master of head games and PR but this Massa routine is making me think that its just barely organized chaos over there and right/ left hand aren’t really on the same page.
As you may remember prior to the Japanese GP Luca di called out Massa and told him to get his crap together and start helping Ferrari out (read: Alonso) or he could find himself a new job. (only slight paraphrase) The this week Stefano comes out and says the team is behind Massa and full prepared to help him become the winning driver.
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Now this could be an attempt by Luca to frighten him into success ala The Flav school of management or it could just be Luca being Luca and just spouting off the first thing that comes into his mind. It could also be a sign of disagreement between him and the F1 team. It has been said more than once out there that Luca was the reason the Ferrari dream team left the organization or at least without Todt et all around Luca is free to “manage” the team how ever he wants.
And that’s before we even mention the spring to the head incident (Spring Cheese Incident, perhaps?) and the real effect that’s had on Massa if at all. Agreed that it would have been a PR nightmare for Ferrari to drop Massa right after the incident, but now its been long enough that they could drop him and maybe Luca is just laying the groundwork? (more good cop/ bad cop)
All I know is that it continues to make Ferrari sound a bit schizophrenic. Maybe this is how the team was pre-Todt et al and maybe its just Luca’s style, but whatever it is – they should knock it off. There’s a title fight going on and public discussion of Massa’s driving ability should happen behind closed doors and after the season is over. Unless you really don’t plan on keeping him around that long.
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