All signs continue to point towards a major change of direction at crisis-struck Ferrari.<\/p>\n
Although long-time president Luca di Montezemolo played down the waves of speculation at Monza, his likely successor Sergio Marchionne issued a series of highly critical statements about the 67-year-old on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Italy’s specialist Autosprint then published a photo of Marchionne, being driven in a Maserati road car, leaving the area of Montezemolo’s office within the factory grounds at Maranello on Monday.<\/p>\n
Even the formerly combative Montezemolo now seems resigned to departing, as Marchionne – chairman of Ferrari’s 90 per cent owner – looks to pull back the current separation between the fabled Italian marque and the Fiat-Chrysler empire.<\/p>\n
“Ferrari is now American,” Montezemolo reportedly told close associates, according to Corriere della Sera newspaper.<\/p>\n
He added that it is “the end of an era”.<\/p>\n
Also undergoing a major change of direction, albeit amid less headline-grabbing controversy, is the reigning world champion team Red Bull.<\/p>\n
Daniel Ricciardo has requested number 1 status for the rest of his 2014 title campaign against the dominant but warring Mercedes pairing, which at the moment boss Christian Horner is unwilling to cede.<\/p>\n
But it is tough times for the team’s reigning quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel, who is said to now be seriously considering a big-money offer to spearhead the new McLaren-Honda campaign.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the German at Monza, F1’s official website asked Vettel about the “impression” he gave at Spa-Francorchamps “that the team is no longer fully behind you”.<\/p>\n
Vettel denied that, but the very same impression returned with force at Monza.<\/p>\n
In a friendly interview with Spanish television immediately after the Italian grand prix, Vettel reportedly said: “It seems that Spanish television sometimes has more faith in me than my own team does.”<\/p>\n
Red Bull official Dr Helmut Marko played down Vettel’s remarks.<\/p>\n
“That was just the first emotion that came out of him.\u00a0 He was naturally disappointed that his teammate beat him, although in qualifying he was better than Ricciardo.<\/p>\n
“I think it was a very normal reaction,” the Austrian insisted to German television Sky.<\/p>\n
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