Ferrari: no qualms if title won in courts

Just 48 hours before McLaren face an FIA World Motor Sport Council hearing into the Formula One spy controversy, di Montezemolo has said he would have no qualms about his team only winning this year through a penalty for their main opposition.

"If the conditions for an off-track victory were met then we would deserve it, because it would have originated from the presupposition that the winners won through illegal, unsporting, and unfair means," he was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport from the Frankfurt Motorshow. "That's why it would be a deserved victory."

Although Ferrari will be involved in the new hearing, di Montezemolo has acknowledged that the ongoing controversy is not good for the sport.

"It's an issue that damages Formula One, and the least is said about it the better," he said. "It's in our interest that this ugly story ends quickly and most of all that is ends with the truth."

Ferrari are facing an uphill battle to get back on terms with McLaren in both the drivers' and constructors' championships after Fernando Alonso's victory in Italy.

And di Montezemolo admitted that the situation was now 'hard' for them.

"I felt bad about Monza, because we can't lose races for the lack of reliability," he was quoted as saying by La Stampa. "I don't like it and I hope we can do better on Sunday and that we'll get back to winning ways.

"At Monza, Massa could do a good race, but we stopped too many times this year for lack of reliability, which is instead a fundamental factor.

"Reasonably I'd say that it's very hard to win the drivers' championship, but the unpredictability of Formula One is big. Obviously the numbers are against us."