FIAT boss angered by Montezemolo's statement in Monza

(Scuderia Ferrari SpA via Twitter)

FIAT boss Sergio Marchionne has criticized Ferrari chairman Luca Di Montezemelo for comments the Italian made at his annual Italian Grand Prix press conference over the weekend in relation to his future as Ferrari president. Di Montezemelo has in recent months been linked with a move away from Ferrari with whom he has worked with for over  years.

The Formula One team has suffered a disastrous 2014 campaign which has already seen team boss Stefano Domenicali replaced by Marco Mattiacci in April. The team had an awful race weekend in Italy which saw Fernando Alonso suffer his first retirement in his season's with the Italian team while Kimi Raikkonen brought his F14-T home in 9th place.

Marchionne who was at the race on Sunday has stated that it is not up to Montezemelo to decide when he will leave Ferrari and it is actually up to Ferrari parent company FIAT to decide when the time is right to replace the Italian.

Marchionne revealed that FIAT are not happy to see their Ferrari F1 drivers finishing an even in 7th and 12th place with the facilities that the team have at their disposal at their HQ in Maranello and indeed the investment and technical know how within the team he feels that it is not acceptable that the team haven't won a championship since 2008.

Ferrari's last race win came at last season's Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International circuit while their last world drivers championship came from Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 who was then replaced by Fernando Alonso for the 2010 season only to be re hired by the Italian team ahead of this season.

The Italian team will be hoping that they will be able to make some big steps forward in the final six remaining race's of the 2014 season and then mount a serious championship challenge in 2015 as the team have already confirmed that both Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen will be retained next season.

© Ben Johnston 2014