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Di Montezemolo slams slow cars

ESPNF1 Staff
June 17, 2010 « Buemi targets qualifying improvement | »
Luca di Montezemolo has hit out at the pace of the new teams © Getty Images
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Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has launched another attack on the new teams in Formula One, after Fernando Alonso lost time and position behind backmarkers at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Alonso lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton after getting baulked by Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus and then conceded second place to Jenson Button when Karun Chandhok's HRT got in the way. After the race Alonso said he was frustrated, but put the incidents down to bad luck.

"We could have won but we did not manage it because, on a few occasions, we paid a heavy price for the traffic," Alonso said. "These things can happen to anyone in a race and this time it was our turn."

However, di Montezemolo argues that cars that are not up to scratch should not be racing in the top flight.

"Cars performing on the same level as GP2 cars should not be allowed to participate in F1; we are supposed to be racing on Sundays," he told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Our car was good enough to challenge for victory [at the Canadian Grand Prix], so in the future let's hope we are not put a disadvantage while lapping cars. We have already gone through all that."

Di Montezemolo has long backed the idea of three-car teams to make up the numbers in F1 and recently said he was in favour of customer cars to allow new teams to be more competitive.

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