According to the Telegraph, former Ferrari chairman, Luca di Montezemolo, held a 0.25pc stake in F1 as a non-executive director of Delta Topco which is F1’s parent company. With the dismissal of Di Montezemolo, Ferrari could stand to be the first team in history to own a portion of F1 according to the report.
A source quoted in the story suggests that these shares are Ferrari’s and not Di Montezemolo’s to exercise the rights of. Luca was named as part of Delta Topco when F1 was heading toward an IPO on the Singapore market back in 2012 but that idea fell through as the Asian markets were weak and F1 owners, CVC Capital, were concerned over the bribery case involving Bernie Ecclestone that was just hatching.
It will be interesting to see if these shares are contested between Luca di Montezemolo or Ferrari as the gains could be massive should F1, indeed, head toward a future IPO. It would be an odd situation for the other teams should Ferrari have ownership of the series but then they are the oldest team in F1 history and do get special payments for their venerable position.
The Telegraph story says the shares are valued at approximately $25 million currently. A replacement for the non-executive director on the board of Delta Topco has not been announced but one would presume Sergio Marchionne might be the likely successor.
