A hint that Luca is the Horse Whisperer as he worries his way to Hungary

There’s no secret that we’re huge fans of the Ferrari Horse Whisperer. Snarky, sarcastic, bitter, angry, euphoric — that and more is the best PR vehicle in Formula 1.

Whether there’s one person who writes the posts, a team, a machine or a combination of them is a mystery.

I’m now going to throw out my guess that Luca di Montezemolo has something hands-on to do with it. (Yeah, it seems far-fetched, but so did everything Silvio Berlusconi did.)

In a Ferrari post from yesterday, Luca pours the coldest of water on the recent run of good fortune for the team and driver Fernando Alonso, especially.

“I am concerned, more so than the day after Valencia,” Montezemolo said. “I see very strong opponents: McLaren has made great progress, Red Bull is very strong, Sauber had a race pace that was a match for ours and Lotus is very strong at times. Therefore, we have to be very careful: after we had a difficult start to the season, maybe our rivals did not expect to see Ferrari capable of fighting back this strongly, but now they will redouble their efforts to beat us. Therefore, we must stay very focussed and continue our efforts to improve continuously.”

Now, I get the need to keep the team focused, but, really? More concerned that after Valencia? Is he maybe talking about the sales of the new Fiat and not Ferrari’s F1 success?

Luca did realize he needed to rally the team a bit more.

“I want to tell you I am proud of you,” he said. “When I watched you applauding the drivers, I was thinking that I am lucky to work with people like you, people who have known how to work without fuss, with ability and determination to redress the difficult situation at the start of the season, which was not at the level of the name Ferrari. I want to take this opportunity to thank Domenicali for his work. When, a few years ago, it was decided to go for a man who had grown from within the company, there were some who turned up their noses at the idea, but today I am pleased to see a true leader of a team that is doing well, which is what I want and which is worthy of the name Ferrari.

There again is a hint of the Whisperer — “people who have known how to work without fuss” sounds straight out of the (wait for it) horse’s mouth.

And how about that pat on Stefano’s back?

If you still can put down some money on Alonso, you might wanna think about it.