Luca di Montezemolo spent more than 30 years as president of Ferrari until he felt the company in 2014, so eyebrows were raised when it was revealed he had joined McLaren
Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo insists his heart “will always remain red” despite having joined McLaren. A document from Companies House reveals that the Italian businessman was, on June 27, appointed as a director of McLaren Group Holdings Ltd.
He is the ninth current director of the firm which is in control of McLaren’s road car business. The holding company also has a minority stake in McLaren Group under which the Formula 1 team falls, though Di Montezemolo is not expected to have any say on the team’s activities.
And he confirmed that would be the case in a statement, after news of his new McLaren role became public knowledge. The 77-year-old said: “My heart is and will always remain red, I have become a member of the board of directors of McLaren Automotive which produces road cars, and does not deal with Formula 1.”
Di Montezemolo’s arrival is the latest during a period of significant change at the road car business. He is not even the only new director in the last week, as McLaren Group chairman Paul Walks was also appointed a few days earlier.
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Serving alongside them on that board is Nick Collins who, in May, was installed as chief executive of McLaren Automotive. The significant shuffling of personnel comes after MA was taken over by CYVN Holdings, an investment company based in Abu Dhabi, in April.
But it is another country in the Middle East which is in charge of McLaren Racing. That arm of the business, which operates their F1 team as well as motorsport projects in other racing series, is majority owned by the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain, Mumtalakat.
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Di Montezemolo’s involvement in the road car business begins more than a decade since his exit from Ferrari. He resigned as president and chairman in 2014, having held the former role since 1991 when the Italian firm was struggling both in terms of its F1 competitiveness and financial stability.
But over the course of the 1990s, he oversaw a transformation which led to Ferrari’s debts being cleared and the company return to profit. And, in 1999, Scuderia Ferrari won the F1 constructors’ title for the first time in 16 years.
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By that time, they had already recruited Jean Todt to lead the racing outfit, under Di Montezemolo’s direction, and signed Michael Schumacher who was already a double F1 champion with Benetton by that point. It ended up being a special combination which led to five consecutive drivers’ titles between 2000 and 2004.
Di Montezemolo recently said he felt “big pain” at Ferrari’s current position – they have not won the F1 title since 2008. “Today I see a team without real leadership, without spirit and without passion,” he complained.
