Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has threatened to reignite Italian anger over Michael Schumacher's move to Mercedes, by describing his decision to leave Ferrari as a "misdeed" at the launch of the new Ferrari F10 car.
Schumacher's decision to leave the Ferrari team in order to return to competitive Formula One action with rivals Mercedes provoked a wave of hand-wringing anger from the Tifosi, who saw Schumacher's move as a "betrayal" of the Ferrari team, after being part of the team since the 1996 season.
But Schumacher himself recently sought to placate the fans, telling them that he would always remain fond of the Ferrari team.
Di Montezemolo, though, suggested that it was he himself who gave Schumacher the desire to return to the sport, and claimed that he could never have imagined the German racing for a team other than Ferrari.
The Italian, speaking at the launch of Ferrari's 2010 car, the F10, said that Schumacher's return to F1 with Mercedes was a "misdeed".
"I like Schumacher and I'm this misdeed's author," was how di Montezemolo phrased his odd statement at the car launch, "It was me who woke his desire to come back to racing and honestly I never thought I'd see him in a car that wasn't a Ferrari. He's a competitor, an opponent, like many others."
He added, somewhat unnecessarily, that: "I'm not worried about the possibility that he might have taken material from our development."
The Ferrari boss insisted that he own team's lineup was more than capable of winning in 2010, praising both the returning Felipe Massa and the team's new recruit Fernando Alonso and suggesting that the two men will be a strong pairing next season.
"When Ferrari decided in 2005 to take Raikkonen the alternative was Alonso, who now finds himself in a fundamental moment of his life. He's matured, young and strong; he has won two World Championships, one in 2005 and one in 2006, beating us 100 per cent," Di Montezemolo gushed.
"We don't have any problem as far as our drivers are concerned. We have Massa, who is back with further enthusiasm, we have Alonso I just told you about and then we have Fisichella as the third driver and two very experienced test drivers: Marc Gene and Luca Badoer."
Di Montezemolo also suggested that Valentino Rossi, the MotoGP champion who completed a test run in a Ferrari last week, was always welcome in his team, and was a "potential Formula 1 champion".
"He's a friend and an undisputed champion, from Emilia-Romagna, a great fan of Formula 1 and engines, and also a potential Formula 1 champion," he grinned, "If there was the possibility in 2011 and he wanted to do it and had the possibility for testing and adapting to F1, then why not?"
He also expanded on his monomaniacal desire for three car teams in the sport, by clarifying that he didn't want each team to run three cars of their own, but wanted to see big teams 'lease out' their third cars to smaller teams.
"I spoke about the possibility of a third car, but I didn't say that Ferrari needs to have three cars," he explained, "I'm well aware of the objections coming from the small teams. I was talking from the point of view of the interest of Formula 1 and of potential new entries in Formula 1.
"The third car could also be helpful for young drivers, to let them grow. It's not right that a boy, who has never driven in Formula 1 starts into a race without training and tests. Here's the idea: I would happily give a Ferrari to an American, German or Australian team and let the car be managed by them. "
Later on, Di Montezemolo also found time to make a snipe at the Mercedes team, saying that they were "not the same" as the manufacturer Ferrari team, having simply bought out Brawn GP.
"I have great respect for Mercedes. I have said and I repeat it's good to see their full involvement in Formula One. But it's a different involvement to us," Di Montezemolo haughtily harrumphed, adding that: "Their involvement is based in England. They bought Brawn."
He added that Schumacher would not have left Ferrari for Mercedes had a third Ferrari car been available: "If there was the possibility of a third car, with great respect for Mercedes, Michael would have been promoting a real red Ferrari not a red Mercedes."
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