Mubadala – Abu Dhabi logo to disappear from Ferrari F1 car and F1 caps?

16.11.2010 / Maranello - Cairo - Abu Dhabi /

It probably made all the Arab F1 and motorsport viewers very proud, and not only the people of Abu Dhabi and the UAE: The big Mubadala – Abu Dhabi logo on the Ferrari F1 cars and on the caps of Ferrari F1 drivers Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and, not too long ago, also the Finnish driver Kimi Raikkoenen.

But now this might change, because according to the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National, the Italian car manufacturer Fiat has bought back the 5 percent stake in Ferrari from the Abu Dhabi government-owned investment company Mubadala.

Those 5 percent were sold five years ago to Mubadala and the contract had a clause according to which Fiat could buy back the stake at within a certain time.

The National also reports that the buy-back costs Fiat around 122 million Euros and would take Fiat’s stake in Ferrari back to around 90 percent.

This unexpected transaction fueled rumors that Fiat is planning on selling a large stake in Ferrari soon, probably as much as 40 percent.

A Fiat spokesman confirmed “that Fiat has exercised the call option for the purchase of the Ferrari stake held by Mubadala.” But no other comments were made regarding the rumored future sell.

This news comes only two days after Ferrari had lost the chance of winning the 2010 F1 Driver World Championship title to the Austrian Red Bull F1 team, which won the constructors title as well as the driver’s title with German driver Sebastian Vettel on the 14th of November 2010 on the spectacular Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi (UAE).

After that the Ferrari managers were harshly criticized by the Italian media, some of them even asking Luca di Montezemolo and the F1 managers to step down.

I personally think that this was an over-reaction by the passionate Italian media, especially since the overall result of the Ferrari team was not too bad at all during the complete 2010 F1 season.

They were leading the F1 driver's standing at the end and they were competing bravely for the F1 title. But they were just not that lucky last weekend. That's motorsport!

MS