After days of speculation, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has announced that he is leaving the company.

A brief statement issued this morning reads:

"Ferrari will have an important role to play within the FCA Group in the upcoming flotation on Wall Street. This will open up a new and different phase which I feel should be spearheaded by the CEO of the Group.

This is the end of an era and so I have decided to leave my position as Chairman after almost 23 marvellous and unforgettable years in addition to those spent at Enzo Ferrari's side in the 1970s.

My thanks, first and foremost, to the exceptional Ferrari women and men from the factory, the offices, the race tracks and the markets across the world. They were the real architects of the company's spectacular growth, its many unforgettable victories and its transformation into one of the world's strongest brands.

A warm farewell and my thanks also to all of our technical and commercial partners, our dealers across the globe and, most particularly, the clients and collectors whose passion I so wholeheartedly share.

But my thoughts go also to our fans who have always supported us with great enthusiasm especially through the Scuderia's most difficult moments.

Ferrari is the most wonderful company in the world. It has been a great privilege and honour to have been its leader. I devoted all of my enthusiasm and commitment to it over the years. Together with my family, it was, and continues to be, the most important thing in my life.

I wish the shareholders, particularly Piero Ferrari who has always been by my side, and everyone in the Company the many more years of success that Ferrari deserves."

Speaking at the weekend in Monza, as speculation over his future with the Italian company reached fever pitch, Montezemolo said he was going nowhere, subsuquently claiming that he had three years remaining on his contract.

On Sunday, in the wake of a disastrous home Grand Prix for the Maranello outfit, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, who it is thought will replace Montezemolo at Ferrari, made it clear that the writing was on the wall, when he said "nobody is indispensable".

Sure enough, just 72 hours later Montezemolo is Ferrari history.

In a further blow to the team, and also to McLaren, Santander boss Emilio Botin passed away overnight following a heart attack.