Former Ferrari chairman and Scuderia team principal Luca di Montezemolo made headlines this week when it was announced that he had been appointed as a director of McLaren Group Holdings Limited.

Though he hasn’t worked for Ferrari since 2014, Montezemolo nevertheless felt he should clarify that his “heart is and will always remain red.”

Ferrari icon Luca di Montezemolo opens up on McLaren swap

On Friday, 77-year-old Luca di Montezemolo was appointed as a director of McLaren Group Holdings Limited. While this company does own a minority stake in McLaren’s Formula 1 team, it is primarily concerned with the outfit’s road-going car operations.

The move to a company affiliated with a potential Formula 1 rival after years at Ferrari came as surprise to many, but Montezemolo clarified that his focus is entirely on the road car division.

“My heart is and will always remain red,” he told Italy’s ANSA before continuing, “I have become a member of the board of directors of McLaren Automotive which produces road cars, and does not deal with Formula 1.”

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Hailing from an aristocratic family in the Piedmont region of Italy, Luca di Montezemolo fell in love with racing at an early age and even competed for a privately-owned Lancia team in the early 1970s before joining Fiat.

In 1973, Montezemolo was stationed at Ferrari, where he served as Enzo Ferrari’s assistant for a brief period of time before being promoted to team manager in 1974. Though that role only technically lasted two years, Montezemolo’s involvement with Ferrari via Fiat continued.

In fact, in 1991, he was appointed president of Ferrari by Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli; the Prancing Horse had been struggling since the death of Enzo Ferrari several years previously, and Montezemolo made it his personal mission to revitalize the organization and return it to championship-winning form.

In 1999, Ferrari won the Constructors’ Championship for the first time since 1983. In 2000, with Michael Schumacher, it took the Drivers’ Championship for the first time since Jody Scheckter claimed the crown in 1979.

Though he resigned from Ferrari in 2014, Luca di Montezemolo’s name has naturally been so closely associated with the outfit that news of his McLaren swap came as a shock.

However, with his vast experience at major automakers like Fiat, he is a smart hire on McLaren’s part.

While the British automaker has made a major turnaround in the past few years, it is still trying to bolster its fortunes after staring bankruptcy in the face back in 2020 and selling off stake in the company to buyers in the years since. With its head above water, McLaren will now be aiming to bolster itself for the future.

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