Montezemolo Blames Rules for Poor Crowd
Formula One's current regulations are to blame for the dismal attendance at the Italian Grand Prix, according to Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo
An estimated 60,000 people attended the Grand Prix on Sunday, with the total number of people visiting Monza during the weekend not reaching 100,000, a considerable drop from last year.
Di Montezemolo said the tickets prices, as well as Ferrari's poor form, were among the reasons for the poor figures. The Italian, however, criticised the regulations and said they are the main reason why the tifosi did not attend Ferrari's home race.
"It's down to the absurd regulations, to the price of the tickets, and to the fact that Ferrari isn't here to win has it has been since 1996," di Montezemolo said. "F1 is extreme technology: one should be able to change tyres every lap, if he wanted to, in order to obtain maximum competitiveness.
"When we won a GP with four tyre changes we did something technically and sportively exceptional. I don't like a dumbed down F1, with taxi drivers on worn out tyres. I'm against this version of F1. Ferrari won like no one else and accepted that regulations got changed every season.
"This year Ferrari didn't win; let's hope it's the occasion to look again at the regulations. I spoke about it to Mosley and Ecclestone. To cut costs is useful, but so is giving back to F1 overtaking, extreme technological research, exciting qualifying and spectators."
Ferrari failed to scored on Sunday, with Michael Schumacher finishing down in 10th place and Rubens Barrichello in 12th.
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