Luca Cordero di Montezemolo is stepping down as the chairman of Ferrari after 23 years and Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of parent company Fiat Chrysler (FCA), is taking over, FCA said in a statement on Wednesday. It became clear that Montezemolo's stint at Ferrari was close to ending on Sunday when Marchionne publicly criticised the performance of the carmaker's race team in Formula One in recent years.
Marchionne said he was "enormously annoyed" at the dry spell the team has encountered since it won the constructors' title in 2008.
He also stressed that economic results were not the only thing that matter for Ferrari as Formula One was its "heart".
"This is the end of an era and so I have decided to leave my position as Chairman after almost 23 marvellous and unforgettable years in addition to those spent at Enzo Ferrari's side (in charge of the Formula One team) in the 1970s," Montezemolo said in a statement. Montezemolo's departure from Ferrari may pave the way for him to take over Alitalia after its tie-up with UAE carrier Etihad. "Given Montezemolo's experience, he could be a good name (for Alitalia)," said Federico Ghizzoni, the CEO of Unicredit, one of the airline's stakeholders.
"Ferrari is the most wonderful company in the world. It has been a great privilege and honour to have been its leader. I devoted all of my enthusiasm and commitment to it over the years. "Together with my family, it was, and continues to be, the most important thing in my life".
Ferrari has thrived since Montezemolo took over as chairman in 1991 and, apart from the recent poor run, they performed well on the track too. Ferrari won 14 world titles under Montezemolo, eight constructors' championships and six drivers' championships.
The majority of those came when Michael Schumacher won five consecutive drivers' titles and helped the Italian glamour team to clinch six constructors' championships between 1999 and 2004.
Marchionne thanked Montezemolo, who also served as Fiat chairman from 2004 to 2010, in a statement, but did not hide the differences with him. "As Chairman of Ferrari, he drove the company to a new level of technological and organizational excellence which also brought with it outstanding financial results," Marchionne said.
"Luca and I have discussed the future of Ferrari at length.
And our mutual desire to see Ferrari achieve its true potential on the track has led to misunderstandings which became clearly visible over the last weekend. "I want to thank Luca for all he has done for Fiat, for Ferrari and for me personally".
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