From F1 to global entertainment: the strategic role of Italy's Motor Valley

Yes, I think so. We operate worldwide. The main shareholders are the Americans at Liberty Media. We manage huge logistical and financial, sporting and regulatory issues. The characteristic that marks the Italian managerial culture, distinguishing it from those in North America and basically also from those in France and Germany, is the ability to respond in an original and unique way to every problem. Processes, standardisation and execution are fundamental. But versatility, which means continuous assumption of responsibility and originality of thought, is equally important. We Italians are good at this.

What is the Italian techno-manufacturing status in the aggregated and consolidated supply chain operating around the Circus?

The high number of racing teams that have headquarters and workshops in Emilia-Romagna counts for a lot. But, equally important, is the entire Italian components system that operates directly and indirectly with Formula One. This entrepreneurial fabric has a density and strategic quality, in my opinion, superior to those of Germany and France. And it is the only one that can be compared to the motor racing system that in England has developed between London, Oxford, Coventry and Silverstone. However, we must not be satisfied with this excellence. Because excellence is not immutable. This is why it would be useful for Italian policy makers to adopt the forms of tax credit that exist in Great Britain, for example, for the entire racing car industry. An adoption that should be conceived and implemented on two complementary fronts: investment and training. In Emilia-Romagna there is a network of highly esteemed and accredited universities working in the service of the car, with a focus on training technicians and managers of international standing. The public hand would make the right choice if it supported both companies and universities.

You are Italian. Your headquarters are in England. Your shareholders are American. You operate all over the world. In Europe, the automotive industry is in crisis. Formula One has always been the most advanced and sexy dimension of the automotive industry. What is your view of the European automotive crisis? .

The European car crisis is regulatory in origin. It is not a manufacturing or innovation crisis. Brussels' imposition of 2035 as the year in which to stop producing diesel cars has resulted in a deep wound to the continental industrial system. Let us not hide behind a finger. The choice was dropped from above. And it betrayed the principle of technological neutrality. The European elites, in their political and high bureaucratic form, chose electric and sanctioned the death of diesel and other fuels. It would have been more correct to set ambitious environmental and emission reduction targets, leaving it to European car manufacturers to choose how to do this. My point of view, moreover, is expressed by my position as CEO of a company and a movement which, since 2014, has been working with hybrid engines, which from next year will see the adoption of new hyper-sustainable fuels and which, in 2030, will become carbon neutral, in the face of the gigantic logistical structuring of a Circus that moves around the world, moving thousands of people and cars from one continent to another, all year round.

The other major reason for the crisis is the profound cultural change that is affecting young people all over the world. The twentieth century was the Century of the Car. Now for those born in the 2000s, the car is no longer a rite of passage into adulthood. How does this impact your business model?

Everything has changed. And we have also changed our business model. Today, the technological element and the dynamic of the competition are merged with marketing and communication, with social media and with the most extreme entertainment. That is why we continue to expand all over the world and why we are able to penetrate with great force even among the younger public, which today has a completely different idea of the car in and of itself. The fascination of the Circus declines and becomes consistent with the new spirit of the times. Precisely because of its vitality and ability to change, this fascination always manages to ignite passion and imagination. Everywhere in the world. And in the hearts and minds of anyone who follows Formula One, regardless of age.