Montezemolo still haunted by Abu Dhabi

Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo says that the team has to make a good start to the 2011 season, having in effect lost last year’s title by failing to score well enough early on.

He also said that he’s still bugged by the Abu Dhabi strategy disaster.

“Believe me, I often still wake up at night thinking of the race in Abu Dhabi, so it goes without saying that we must absolutely look to the future,” he said at Ferrari’s PR event in Italy. “We are working very hard on the new car. As Domenicali and I told you back in December, there has been no revolution within our organisation, just a few adjustments aimed at improving the way the team is run.

“We must make a good start, both in terms of reliability and, above all, on the performance front. Last year, we lost the championship in a first half that found us failing to live up to our expectations. I think this will be a very interesting championship. There are a few question marks regarding the new rules, and therefore we will have to wait and see how competitive are our rivals.”

He also had some thoughts on who might be Ferrari’s main rivals this year, after Fernando Alonso tipped Michael Schumacher,

“I think we must wait for the first few races, but these tales are good for the media and the fans. Alonso says Michael, Felipe says Hamilton, maybe Michael will favour Vettel, so there’s nothing new under the sun! But, Michael is still close to my heart and part of Ferrari’s history and I have no doubt he is still a fantastic driver.”

Reminded about Nico Rosberg, he added: “So, sure, there’s also Rosberg. In fact, I expect three teams, maybe even four to be fighting it out at the top in 2011. Of the new generation of drivers, he is in there as indeed is Vettel. But the hierarchy will be established on the stopwatch. Having said that, one problem we don’t have is on the driver front: I know who is the best in the world, but I’m not saying…”