Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Ferrari's parent company Fiat, has criticised comments made by Luca di Montezemolo at the weekend.

Amidst growing speculation that he is to leave Ferrari and take charge at Alitalia, Italy's national airline, Montezemolo held court in the Monza paddock on Saturday, insisting that there is no truth to the rumours and that when he intends leaving the Maranello outfit he will be the one to announce it.

As if this wasn't bad enough for Marchionne, the icing on the cake came just twenty-four hours later when Mercedes enjoyed an easy 1-2 whilst Ferrari could only manage a ninth for Kimi Raikkonen, teammate Fernando Alonso suffering his first retirement of the season.

In a move worthy of any great Italian movie or opera, Marchionne took centre stage.

"Everybody is needed, nobody is indispensable," he told reporters in Cernobbio late on Sunday. "Nobody should ever get it through the head that you could threaten or suggest that the house should be in trouble if you don't run the company.

"We are good friends," he said of the Ferrari boss, who had claimed he still has three years on his current contract, "but his statements, these are things I wouldn't have said myself.

"I consider myself essential, of course," he added, "but I also know very well that I am at the service of this company. So to create positions, illusions that one can operate outside the rules, is talking rubbish. It's the same for him as it is for me; we serve the company. When the company has a change of plan, or if there is no longer a convergence of ideas, things change."

So Luca, Alitalia it is.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Kkiirmki, 09/09/2014 7:21

"Stefano Domenicali must be smiling. I can't imagine too many Pitpass readers being that upset at seeing the back of Montezemolo?"

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2. Posted by Marybeth, 08/09/2014 23:09

" If Luca wants to keep his job he is going to need results & to get those results he is going to have to start backing Kimi as his first driver. If he does not get results & is ousted, FA's $100 million is not going to matter to him. Williams has less than half of their budget & is doing better. Williams has less than half of their budget & is doing better. "

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3. Posted by kiwi2wheels, 08/09/2014 19:07

"Can someone please explain to me WTF there is always some uniformed flunkie stuffing a tape recorder into the face of a driver / rider or ( as in the above photo ) team member when the media hoards are asking their ( usually ...) inane questions ?

I would like to see a % breakdown of the numbers of team members who are necessary to the actual running and transport of the cars and those who have no justifiable reason for their presence at the track....."

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Fiat boss critical of Montezemolo

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