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Former Ferrari chief Montezemolo to be chairman of Alitalia

Luca di Montezemolo may be 67 years old, but he's not quite ready to retire just yet. Not, at least, if the latest reports emanating from Italy are to be believed. According to Reuters, the longtime former Ferrari chief is due to be named chairman of Alitalia.
The troubled Italian airline is on the verge of being bailed out after years of financial difficulty, with Etihad Airways of the United Arab Emirates set to take a 49-percent stake in the company. While the reports have yet to be confirmed by the parties involved, Reuters cites multiple inside sources in revealing that the airline's board met last week and agreed to appoint Montezemolo as chairman, with current Etihad chief James Hogan to act as chief executive officer.
Montezemolo, of course, long served as chairman of Ferrari, having assumed leadership of the company not long after founder Enzo Ferrari died. He also served as chairman of the Fiat group for several years after the passing of Umberto Agnelli, and has headed numerous trade organizations and sporting bodies. But his tenure at Ferrari and the broader Fiat Chrysler Automobiles empire came to an end two months ago when clashes with Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne saw Montezemolo step down.

Ecclestone against F1 cockpit protection

Bernie Ecclestone has made it clear that he is not a fan of the Red Bull Aeroscreen, which was tried by Daniel Ricciardo on Friday, in Sochi. The FIA will continue to study both the Red Bull device and Ferrari's Halo, and will make a decision by July 1 about which will be added to the 2017 rules. "We're going to get a lot of pitstops now when they have to stop to clean the screen and things," he said when asked by Motorsport.com about the Aeroscreen. "That will be good." Asked if he liked the look of it or preferred the Halo, he said: "Not particularly. I don't like any of them," adding that the sport should do "nothing" with regard to cockpit protection. "I just think to try to simulate something when you've got a stationary object, and you're firing a tyre at it, when in the race when the wheel has come off normally both cars would be moving. "So how can you simulate it by having a car stationary? And how would you ever know what's going to happen with a wheel anyway? "If it hits the thing it would probably bounce off anyway. So I don't know," Ecclestone added. Quizzed on Lewis Hamilton's suggestion that danger was part of the appeal of the sport he said: "In his case I don't know whether the money made any difference as well. "We can make it more dangerous if he wants." Related Video: This story, by Adam Cooper, originally appeared on Motorsport.com, the world's leader in auto racing news, photos, and video. Image Credit: Dan Istitene/Getty Motorsports Ferrari Safety Racing Vehicles F1 bernie ecclestone halo

The 24 Hour War: Adam Carolla's new documentary brings the Ford-Ferrari battle back to life

Long before the GoPro or even videotape, races were filmed by guys standing next to the track with 16-millimeter cameras. The images kind of shook, they didn't always hold focus, and over the years all the color has faded out of the film. It all conspires to make the endurance racing battle between Ferrari and Ford in the 1960s seem like ancient history. What Adam Carolla and Nate Adams' new documentary The 24 Hour War does best is make that inter-corporate battle feel as if it happened yesterday. Yeah, if you're an obsessive you've likely seen most of the shaky-cam race footage used here before. But what you haven't seen are the interviews that frame the war and explain the egos and engineering behind the legends. It's not a perfect movie, but it's the sort of movie only fanatics could make. And it's easier to appreciate if you're a fanatic too. The first 25-or-so minutes of the documentary are taken up with histories of both Ford and Ferrari and an overview of how ridiculously deadly motorsports were in the Sixties and earlier. It's all interesting (if familiar) stuff, that could have been handled in about a third the time with some brutal editing. Still, the two protagonists in the story are well drawn: the racing-crazed Enzo Ferrari, who only builds road cars to stay solvent; and Henry Ford II, who after being thrown into the deep end of the Ford Motor Company management in 1943 at the age of 25, wasn't going to be humiliated after Ferrari pulled out of a deal to sell him the sports car maker. With one notable exception, the filmmakers were successful in rounding up practically everyone involved who is still alive for an interview. That includes Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, Pete Brock, Bob Bondurant, Piero Ferrari, Mauro Forghieri, Carlo Tazzioli, and even Ralph Nader. There are good archival insights from the late Carroll Shelby. But where's A.J. Foyt? After all, he co-drove the stupendous Ford GT40 Mark IV with Dan Gurney to victory at Le Mans in 1967. The interviews make the movie worthwhile, but it cries out for more technical depth about the cars themselves. Yes, the GT40 was complex and engineered practically like a production car, but there's no mention of how the Lola Mk VI and Eric Broadley kicked off the development. There's only a superficial explanation of what made the American-built Mark IV such a leap forward.