Newsgroup: it.sport.formula1.moderato
Titolo: [ENG] Penelope gets picked up

Source: 
grandprix.com
http://www.grandprix.com/mole/mole19614.html
The Mole was nursing a gin and tonic and wondering to himself what would
happen in the Place de la Concorde on Thursday. It was, he concluded, an
awful mess that needed to be sorted out.
Then, with a barely audible screech of patent leather on the tiled floor,
Penelope (Roedean) arrived, a little out of breath.
"Goodness," she said. "What a morning! The flight was really early. I
mean like Rocky Horror Show in the mirror early. And then I had to rush
to the flat, dump my stuff and get down here. The traffic was just
awful."
She took a breath.
"Glass of white, please," she fired as the barman threatened to look in
her direction. "Anyway, so I was in the lounge at Linate and there was
this rather handsome chap who seemed a little forlorn so, rather than
falling asleep and drooling in an embarrassing fashion, I decided to have
a triple espresso and chat to him."
The Mole nodded. Caffeine was clearly flowing through her veins.
"Anyway," she went on. "It turns out that he was sad because Ferrari had
done so badly at Monza."
"Wrist-slashing stuff," said The Mole, popping a pork scratching into his
mouth.
Penelope winced, pork scratchings not being at all her thing.
"He obviously thought that I was some blonde in Milan to buy shoes and so
after a while he began telling me that his wife did not understand him
and that his work was a big mess and how all he really wanted to do was
to escape to the mountains and have heaps of wild sex with a nice English
girl."
The Mole raised an eyebrow.
"Well, he didn't actually say that, but that was what the subtitles were
saying."
"The normal conversation with an Italian man," added The Mole.
"Pretty much," said Penelope, with an elegant scratch on the end of her
nose. "Anyway, then he said he worked for Ferrari."
"That old line," said The Mole, with a grin. "I guess it still works down
that way."
Penelope laughed.
"I assumed he was hitting on me," she went on, "but then he said that
there was a power struggle going on between Jean Todt and Luca di
Montezemolo and I fell off my chair. I mean I was sitting on the arm of
the chair, to make him feel that I had the hots for him, and I literally
fell off and was scrambling on the floor And as I was doing that I
noticed that he had one of those sexy briefcases with a prancing horse
logo just about the lock."
"Really?" said The Mole. "Now you are talking."
"He was very nice," Penelope went on. "He helped me up and even patted my
bottom to get some dust off my skirt."
"What a nice man," said The Mole, eyeing the rump in question.
"So anyway," she went on, "he then tells me that after two years without
a world title Montezemolo thinks it is time for Todt to go and unless the
FIA comes to Ferrari's rescue this year and punishes McLaren. It is going
to be three failures in a row. He said that a year ago it was expected
that Todt would retire when Michael Schumacher quit but then he decided
to stay on because he liked being an F1 boss so much. The problem is that
Ross Brawn is supposed to come back and take over the running of the team
and leave Todt pushing papers about road cars around his desk. But he
does not want that. You remember a year ago Montezemolo announced that
Todt would stay on as head of the racing department on an "interim" basis
and it was assumed that the job was being kept open for Brawn. The
trouble is that Todt really wants to keep his job and Brawn won't come
back in his old role and so Montezemolo cannot restructure without
pushing Todt out but he cannot do that without a good reason. His big
chance is to do it if Ferrari fails to win this year because that will
mean that Todt will need to answer serious questions when the Ferrari
board next meets. If Ferrari wins Todt will be a hero again and no-one
will ask the difficult questions. If Ferrari loses Todt has to justify
how the Ferrari F2007 was such a quick car and yet how the team failed to
win. He will have to explain about poor reliability and the Stepneygate
business. Most of all, he will have to explain how it was that the wind
tunnel fell apart because of poor maintenance which is the real reason
why Ferrari fell behind in the World Championship.
"So Todt needs a title and is pushing really hard to get McLaren punished
as this will wipe out his problems and lessen the impact of Nigel Stepney
saying that he knows things that Ferrari does not want to come out."
"Wonderful," said The Mole. "What was the guy's name?"
Penelope shrugged.
"No idea," she said. "He did not say."
"So how did it all end up?" said The Mole.
"They called his flight," Penelope said. "He gave me his phone number and
said that if I would like to see some of the splendid sights in the
Italian lakes I should call him. He said that Bellagio is beautiful in
November when the tourists are no longer there and that he knows a great
little hotel from which one can enjoy great views, exhilarating walks and
even a trip to Milan for shopping and La Scala. And the food is really
good too."
"Every girl's dream," said The Mole.
Penelope shrugged her shoulders.
"There are worse things," she said.
The Mole nodded.
"Sure," he said. "You could be his wife."
September 11 2007
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 after two years without

A me sembra ovvio che ci sia una separazione tra due fazioni in Ferrari, 
e da questo sono seguite varie cose tra cui la forzata uscita di 
Schumacher, la mancata promozione di Stepney da cui tutto il resto. Che 
Todt sia appeso a un filo è evidente dalla foga con cui combatte la 
battaglia legale.
Foga a prima vista illogica, visto che corre il rischio di distruggere 
la credibilità del campionato stesso, e di fare affondare la barca su 
cui stanno tutti. Ma attenzione, se non ci fosse più "barca" l'anno 
prossimo per lui ovviamente Todt (e non la Ferrari, che si sta infilando 
in una situazione difficile) non avrebbe nulla da perdere. Ugualmente la 
McLaren non potrebbe fare alcun compromesso se quella che si profila è 
in pratica la morte aziendale. Di solito le guerre totali nascono quando 
i contendenti sono entrambi con le spalle al muro.
-- 
Alessio F. Bragadini            
ale...@sevenseas.org
"I think it's a clear indication for the future that we've got to get
out of this corner that we've painted ourselves into, because you can't
race these cars. It's more about pitstops and maybe the driver in front
making a mistake than actual racing now."  -- Ross Brawn, 2005