Luca di Montezemolo

Ferrari chairman from 1991 to 2014 who introduced the F50 in Geneva in 1995; Ferrari limited the series to 349 cars.

He was born in Bologna on 31 August 1947, graduated in law from La Sapienza in Rome in 1971, and specialised in international commercial law at Columbia. After Chiomenti in Rome and Bergreen & Bergreen in New York, he joined Ferrari in 1973 as Enzo Ferrari’s assistant and then team manager. Ferrari won Drivers’ Championships with Niki Lauda in 1975 and 1977. His Fiat racing role widened in 1976, while his part-time Maranello work continued to the end of 1977.

In 1977 he became Fiat’s director of external relations. He was chief executive of Itedi from 1981 to 1983 and of Cinzano International from 1984 to 1986, then General Manager of the Italia ’90 World Cup organising committee. He returned to Ferrari as president in November 1991 and remained chief executive until 2006. He appointed Jean Todt in 1993; Michael Schumacher won five consecutive Drivers’ Championships from 2000 to 2004. Montezemolo left Ferrari in October 2014.

The F50 was introduced in Geneva on 6 March 1995, two years before Ferrari’s fiftieth anniversary. Montezemolo opened the presentation, while Piero Lardi Ferrari and Sergio Pininfarina removed the cover. Ferrari limited production to 349 cars, one fewer than the market it identified. The body was designed by Pininfarina; its carbon-fibre monocoque, push-rod suspension and 4.7-litre V12 derived from the 1990 Ferrari 640/641 raced by Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell.