Ferrari does not want Formula 1 changes to affect team performance

After arriving at the Bahrain Grand Prix for talks with FIA president Jean Todt to discuss the current spectacle, di Montezemolo admitted he was far from happy about the direction the sport had gone in this year.

But although suggesting that changes should be considered - especially to the car noise and fuel-economy regulations - he was adamant that dramatic rule changes should not be pushed through against the will of pace-setters Mercedes.

"Ferrari said many months ago that we are against the limit of fuel, that this is not F1," he said.

"Last Christmas in front of the all the journalists [I said] that I am very afraid that the new formula means drivers are taxi drivers.

"We have to take care of some indications from the public to look ahead, and change something without interfering with today's rules.

"I think if someone is ahead like Mercedes, it is absolutely correct not to change something now."

Despite being aware that major changes are unlikely, Montezemolo admitted that there were several aspects of the current F1 that he did not like.

And he reckons that there could be ways to improve matters - especially on the noise front - that would not require dramatic rule changes that would shake up the competitive order.

"My position has been clear for a few months now," he said. "To have drivers who save fuel and tyres, this is not Formula 1."

"We want to increase the value of the passions and the success of F1. We cannot have an F1 that is an energy fuel economy formula.

"We have to push from the first lap until the last. If an engine drinks less fuel, then good. It means you can do a race with less fuel if you want.

"But this is one point. The public doesn't like a taxi driver that has to respect the fuel. This is not F1.

"The second problem is the music of F1, not the noise but the music.

"The third is that the rules are too complicated, particularly for the people on the track. How can they understand the fuel meters? It is really complicated.

"So we have to do a formula that is less complicated. For a short time it is good not to do anything.

"But maybe there can be some good ideas that we can share together to improve the situation because I don't like even the possibility of an F1 decline."