Pietro Ferrari, the son of Enzo, the founder of the Italian marque, has moved to downplay the anger in the Italian media over Michael Schumacher's move to Mercedes GP for 2010 by insisting that the German has not committed "treason".
Schumacher's move to Mercedes, announced last week, was greeted with disdain by some sections of the never-knowingly discreet Italian press, who roundly said that Schumacher had betrayed the Ferrari team by jumping ship to Mercedes.
But Ferrari, who admitted that the move had made him and other Ferrari figures "feel a little bad", said that the simple fact was that Schumacher wanted to return to the grid, and Ferrari had no room in their cars for him.
"We feel a little bad, because Michael was ours," Ferrari was quoted as saying in Gazzetta dello Sport.
He added: "I would have liked him to stay with us, but they are using the word treason: in truth he wanted to race and the conditions were not that he could do it with us."
Schumacher had originally agreed to switch from his 'ambassador' role with the Italian team to a new "non-racing consultant" job for 2010, though no contract had been signed. But Schumacher has now turned his back on that potential job after severing his Ferrari ties to complete the Mercedes move.
Ferrari added that he felt that Schumacher could still be a competitive force in the sport, even at the age of 41.
"His competitiveness will depend on the car," he shrugged, "Another great driver, Mario Andretti, had carried on racing until he was over 50. Schumi was and remains a phenomenon. Drivers like him come only once every ten years."
Despite the loss of Schumacher, Ferrari is convinced that the Italian team's 2010 driver pairing of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will be good enough to challenge for the title, providing the team gives them the car to do so.
"We've signed Alonso, who has challenged and beaten Michael. We also have Massa, who took over from Schumacher and has grown a lot," Ferrari said.
"I am convinced we have been able to build a good car, better than that of 2009. We will not lose the title because of the drivers."
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