Ferrari move to sport naval logo on cars draws Delhi ire

The Indian government has taken exception to Italian Formula 1 team Ferrari’s decision to sport logos of Italian Navy on their cars to express solidarity with two Italian Navy Marines who are facing trial in Kerala for shooting two fishermen off Kerala coast. 

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin in a statement said: “Using sporting events to promote causes which are not of a sporting nature is not in keeping with the spirit of any sport.”

However, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali has defended Ferrari’s decision to put on the Italian Navy flag on their car. When asked during a press conference, Domenicali said bluntly that he was “not willing to talk about it”, while adding almost immediately that “it is not political.We have not given any judgment on what happened,” Ferrari media manager Luca Colajanni said.

Not political

“We did not say that someone should do this or that, but just hoped that a solution can be found. So, there is no political message at all,” Domenicali maintained.

When the World Trade Centre was brought down, we painted the nose of the car black… we always send across messages of support,” he said.

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone distanced himself from the logo row, saying that the national association should look into such “political matters”.

“What we’d do, we’d look at the National Sporting Authority (FMSCI) here to have a look at that...we are not political,” Ecclestone said.

Asked if there was any pressure from Italian authorities to put that flag, Colajanni said: “No”.

Ferrari head Luca di Montezemolo too washed his hands off the issue, saying: “We only want to make a small contribution.”