Montezemolo 'appalled' by Ferrari in China – Ecclestone

Apr.2 (GMM) Ferrari’s former president was “appalled” with the team’s double-disqualification after the Chinese GP.

That’s the claim of Bernie Ecclestone, the ex-F1 supremo who caught up with Luca di Montezemolo at the 80th birthday party of rock legend Eric Clapton in London over the weekend.

“I met up with Luca there,” Ecclestone, 94, told his Swiss journalist friend Roger Benoit, who has written for Blick newspaper for decades.

“He (Montezemolo) was appalled by the two disqualifications in China,” the diminutive Briton insisted. “Italy had never experienced such a disgrace since the start of the World Cup.”

Italy did not even qualify for the last two World Cups in 2018 and 2022.

Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur justified the double-DQ for two separate technical infringements as the result of simply pushing the limits too far.

But Ecclestone charged: “There was clearly a lack of a process to check the cars properly after qualifying. The rule about car weight has been there for decades.

“Just drive through the dirt after crossing the finish line and pick up as many stones as possible with your tyres in the gravel trap,” he added.

Footage, however, showed drivers including the underweight Charles Leclerc as well as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen even driving onto the grass to do just that after the chequered flag.

Vasseur also explained that Leclerc’s disqualification was a combination of factors – one-stop strategy tyre wear, missing front wing pieces, and “There was also a loss of a litre of water from his hydration system.”

Interestingly, Leclerc also suffered a drinks bottle leak in Australia, leading to an amusing radio exchange with his engineer.

“Is there a leakage?” he asked his engineer Bryan Bozzi. “I have the seat full of water,” Leclerc added.

“Must be the water,” Bozzi replied, to which Leclerc quipped: “Add that to the words of wisdom.”