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Press slams Ferrari attacks

Ferrari's 'Horse Whisperer' column has lashed out at the FIA and the new teams © Sutton Images

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An article on the official Ferrari website which attacked rival teams and accused former FIA president Max Mosley of waging a "holy war" against it has been condemned by the media.

The column slammed the FIA's policy of encouraging new teams, claiming it would have been better to do more to convince the old manufacturers to stay. It was highly critical of US F1 and Campos, claiming the latter "benefitted from a sudden cash injection from a munificent white knight, well used to this sort of last minute rescue deal," but went on to say that the team may well end of filling the role of "loyal vassal".

US F1, the article continued, "appears to have gone into hiding in Charlotte, North Carolina … amazingly, it still has the impudence to claim that everything is hunky-dory under the starry stripy sky." It concluded the best way for anyone to contact team bosses Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson would be to call "missing persons".

As for Stefan GP, the team being lined up to replace US F1, the piece was particular personal, labelling it "Serbian vultures" and claiming it "picked the bones of Toyota on its death bed".

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport led with "Red card for Ferrari" with Michael Schmidt writing: "I have rarely read such nonsense," dismissing the attack as a "far-fetched conspiracy theory". He said the restructuring of F1's carmakers had nothing to do with Mosley. While he admitted there might have been "better candidates" than the struggling USF1 and Campos, he argued that F1 needed new teams even though Lotus and Virgin "cannot be expected to be fast right away".

The Daily Telegraph called Ferrari's rant a "withering attack", the French news agency AFP said the team had "savaged" the FIA, and even Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport said the column was "bitter". The Times concluded Ferrari was blaming "Mosley for (the new teams') teething problems".

The FIA declined to comment.

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