Luca di Montezemolo has called on his
Ferrari team to show some humility to go with its much-vaunted unity when the going gets tough, following two pointless races to start the defence of its constructors' championship crown.
The Scuderia's travails are well covered elsewhere, but a particularly disappointing Malaysian Grand Prix weekend was punctuated by more reliability woes - Kimi Raikkonen's KERS unit beginning to melt itself in free practice - and some decidedly questionable strategic decisions, which saw
Felipe Massa start on 16th and Raikkonen sitting in 14th - not to mention a pair of shorts - when the race was halted after just 31 laps.
The chairman arrived for his post-Sepang debrief bearing a cloak favoured by Franciscan monks as a mark of humility, and claimed that everyone at Maranello needed to react positively to the results of the opening two races and move forward as one, as they had during their years of success.
"I met some very angry people, and I'm using an euphemism here, angry with themselves, but very determined to react," Montezemolo said at the end of the meeting, "I brought a cowl with me to make them all understand that we have to be very humble during this season - and I said that I don't want to see us on 'Candid Camera' after every race. Seriously, I know that the pride of this group is very strong and it will allow us to get out of this situation.
"It was an intense, but constructive, meeting, and we know that we have to react to catch up in terms of performance - which is also the result of the technical rules' interpretation considered to be incorrect by many teams. That's why we'll work very hard these days to anticipate the F60's aerodynamic developments as much as possible.
"We've got faith in the team, who, let's not forget, have won three of the last four world champion titles. Our meetings are held in the locker room, just like we did with [Jean] Todt and [Ross] Brawn during difficult moments, and the team remains united. I believe in them."
