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Montezemolo: Singapore circus 'humiliating'

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo is not a man afraid to hold opposing views to the majority of the Formula One paddock, but felt that he would differ by speaking out against Formula One's visit to Singapore.

Having seen one of his championship contenders finish 13th on the road and the other end his night in the barriers having been set for minor points, new FOTA chairman di Montezemolo branded the event 'humiliating for Formula One' - in contrast to the majority who felt that it had been a breath of fresh air and a unique experience - and slammed both the Marina Bay street circuit and the use of the safety car, which appeared twice during the 61-lap night race, for what he saw as cheapening the sport.

"When you race on a track that would work better as a circus ring or something along those lines, anything can happen, because the real spectacle was supplied by the safety car," he fumed in an interview with Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport.

"This is humiliating for the F1 world and, during the next few weeks, I would like discuss this with all the other teams. Going forward with these circuits heralds a bad future for Formula One."

Ferrari's biggest rival, McLaren, has also claimed that the timing of the first safety car, called when Nelson Piquet Jr crashed on lap 14, had a decisive effect on the outcome of the race, but accepted that 'the lottery' had a habit of evening itself out over the course of the season. While Lewis Hamilton came through to finish third in the race - behind Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg, who both benefited from the pace car period - Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who had been leading until that point, saw his chances of victory disappear in yet another botched pit-stop from the Scuderia.

Despite watching a near repeat of the incident that saw one of the team's refuelling crew injured in Valencia, di Montezemolo reserved his vitriol for the circuit and not for the maligned automated pit release system.

"We have fantastic mechanics who can also make mistakes and, of course, whoever made the mistake won't be anyone's favourite person these days," he said, "But, in any case we need to support him and all the others because, in other situations, there were other people who tipped the scales.

"It was a bitter day, but there are three races yet and I have faith in all Ferrari's men. We saw that last year in the final race in Brazil, and Ferrari went through times much more difficult than this.

"We are the reigning world champions and we can still win again this year. Who knows if we won't make it with these outstanding people. You will see how there will be a big comeback already in the next race."

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Quentin
No - not at all - yellows for accidents - of course. But there have been instances where a full course yellow has been applied for something that does not warrant it - where a car has spun harmlessly out of the way, or spun, collected it without hitting anything and then pitted. The organisers have more-or-less admitted they would act to bring the field together toward the end of a race to make the finish more exciting. When CART split, they were the premier series in the US as far as viewing figures were concerned. Nascar grabbed their chance and re-branded their series into the present format. And very successful it is, commercially speaking.
Posted by Morgan Rees (418 days ago)
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Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari F2008, Singapore F1 Grand Prix, 26th-28th, September 2008
Giancarlo Fisichella, Ferrari, 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos [pic credit: Shell]
Fernando Alonso (ESP) Renault R28, Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari F2008, Brazilian F1 Grand Prix, Interlagos, 30th October 2008-2nd November, 2008
Luca Badoer, 2009 European Grand Prix in Valencia [pic credit: Shell]
Luca Badoer, 2009 European Grand Prix in Valencia [pic credit: Shell]
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