Ferrari Indulges A Horses Ass In Mosley Attack.

by charlesolaleye | February 25, 2010 at 04:30 pm

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By Charles Oladeji.

I admire Italians. I’ve worked with numerous Italians and found them equally passionate and petulant. Then there’s the undeniable sense of fashion, food and feistiness. Whenever I’ve engaged an Italian in a heated exchange they have stood their ground without seeking the convenience of a subliminal or slick racist jibe (and I’ve had many of those). Whilst in Italy I’ll never forget the sun setting on Tuscany, the golden texture of the landscape got me forever yearning to go back to Florence. However, there is also a darker side to the Italian psyche, and I’m not writing about the legendary ‘Cosa Nostra’.

Recently (22nd Feb), a point of view titled 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' was expressed by a Ferrari associate called the “Horse Whisperer” on the Ferrari.com website. While one may tolerate many views as valid (up until a point) I feel on this occasion that this expressed 'point of view' is what 18th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham called “nonsense upon stilts”.

Because the article/opinion piece is attached to Ferrari.com this ridiculous piece has got a lot of media traction. It is horse manure. What hubris and lack of humility could have prompted this particular article, from a member of Ferrari is alarming. What was the aim? What was the point? WTF?

Indeed, the newly signed up Formula One team’s of 2010 are struggling. But, so are teams that have been around for a while such as Renault, who don’t have tolerance to continuously throw R&D money at a sport/hobby, ‘currently run by Bernie Ecclestones’ FOM and his private equity financiers CVC . Ferrari and Mclaren have that luxury, how do you spend so much money (and training) on KERS, and then decide not to use it if you don’t have money to burn? (Mark my words KERS will return in 2011).

The astronomical cost of running an F1 team is nothing to laugh at. BMW pulled out of F1, Toyota pulled out of F1, Honda pulled out of F1. These global and historically car companies have pulled out of F1 recently, yet, the CVC and FOM stays above it all. How?

They stay profitable because they (FOM and CVC) have the ability to exploit ‘Corporate Welfare’ induced through the visceral nationalism of countries in the Middle and Far East for their own benefit. Such is the pulling power of Formula One that the FOM and CVC stay profitable doing business with governments of China, UAE, Singapore and Bahrain using state finance to bring F1 to their countries. Ecclestone et al bank the profits and short change the actors.

So bearing that in mind, there is a slight element of truth when this pompous Ferrari fan lashes out and mentions Stefan GP (run by Zoran Stefanovich) who seem overly-determined to join F1 after taking up Toyota’s leftovers. Bernie Ecclestone is said to be in favour of Stefan GP gaining an 11th hour entry into Formula One. And again, why? Because Stefan GP’s been promised financial backing the Serbian Government.

Ferrari’s fortune is tied to the whole corporatist edifice. Ferrari, prominent member /president of the FOTA, is part of that ‘Corporatist arrangement’, building a Ferrari World theme Park at Yas Marina Abu Dhabi. If Stefan GP is a vulture as Horse Whisperer suggests, then it’s equally fair to call out Ferrari as bloated hippo at best or a Shark at its worst. Either way it’s a lot more dangerous than its appearance would have us believe.

Small privateer teams like USF1, Campos Meta, and Virgin that don’t have the financial clout of Ferrari, Mclaren, and Red Bull have invested their mind and souls in a dream. Then a writer for the Ferrari blog has the sheer audacity to start trampling on that dream with from a comfortable saddle on that hitherto lame horse? Who is this Horses Ass anyway?

It is convenient to label Max Mosley as the arch villain of the plot. He was never much liked anyway, or as I like to put it, ‘never truly appreciated’. Forget Ecclestone’s ‘Mosley for PM’ comments, his (Mosley’s) intentions in Formula One were good even if the solution was flawed. If in fact Mosley had engaged in ‘holy war’ as Horse Whisperer has suggested he would not have fell on his sword and fought to have a member of the corporatist Ferrari fraternity replace him in the person of French man Jean Todt. Todt is a Ferrari company man through and through who would ensure that Ari Vatinen’s radical changes never took place.

Talk about ingratitude.