Ex-Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone believes Ferrari would still be “huge” even if they one day walked away from the sport.
Whenever substantial changes are touted that might not suit them, typically the Italian team is known for threatening to pull out of F1, such as in the mid-2000s and again back in 2017.
Even recent comments over expanding their motorsport activities should a dramatically reduced budget cap be enforced led to headlines of a Ferrari quit threat.
Despite all the bluster, the Scuderia has never gone through with their warnings and it’s for that reason Ecclestone became somewhat immune to them.
“I never took any notice,” the Briton recently told Autocar. “I’m not a man to take notice of anything other than what I want.
“If Ferrari wanted to leave, then they should have done it. They never did, and as it happens I have only fond memories of Mr Ferrari.
“He always told me what was really going on, even when he was busy telling everyone else the opposite.”
Still, there is often a debate as to which side would be hurt more if the day came that Ferrari left F1 and Ecclestone sees only one answer.
“I think F1 without Ferrari isn’t at all good and Ferrari’s brand is so strong that they could walk away from F1 and still be huge,” he said.
“Even when they aren’t winning in F1, you could ask a man in the street who won the world title and he would just say ‘Ferrari’.”
Also Read: