Formula One: Ferrari issues statement regarding Ford, claims name was always F150th Italia
ADAM COOPER
LAT PHOTOGRAPHICThat's Felipe Massa testing the Ferrari F150th Italia race car in Spain on Thursday.
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Under threat of legal action from Ford Motor Co., Ferrari on Thursday confirmed formally that its new Formula One car will be known as the F150th Italia and not as the F150 as originally intended.
Remarkably--and perhaps in a manner only Ferrari could conceive--the team now seems to claim that “F150” was always a sort of shorthand for the real name, F150th Italia--which curiously only reached the public domain on Thursday. All references to “F150” on Ferrari’s Web site have now been changed, even a news announcement still dated Jan. 25 explaining the reasoning behind the name.
Ferrari made it clear that it does not agree with Ford’s viewpoint regarding the legal challenge and says it’s acting in good faith.
“On the subject of the name of the new Ferrari Formula One car, the Maranello company wishes to point out that it has sent a letter of reply to Ford, underlining the fact that the F150 designation [used as the abbreviated version of the complete name, which is Ferrari F150th Italia] never has, nor ever will, be used as the name of a commercially available product,” Ferrari said in a statement. “Indeed, there will definitely not be a production run of single-seaters.
“In fact, it has always been the case in the history of Scuderia names that they represent the nomenclature of a racing-car project and are linked to a chronological order with a technical basis, or in exceptional cases, to special occasions. This year, the decision was taken to dedicate the car name to a particularly significant event, the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, an event of such great importance that the Italian government has declared, for this year only, a national holiday,” the statement said.
“For these reasons, Ferrari believes that its own contender in the forthcoming F1 championship cannot be confused with other types of commercially available vehicle of any sort whatsoever, nor can it give the impression that there is a link to another brand of road-going vehicle. Therefore, it is very difficult to understand Ford’s viewpoint on the matter.
“Despite this, and to further prove it is acting in good faith and that it operates in a completely correct manner, Ferrari has decided to ensure that in all areas of operation, the abbreviated version will be replaced at all times with the full version, Ferrari F150th Italia.”
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