“Rush” screening for special viewer

Maranello – “Rush” is the hot ticket at the cinema the world over at the moment and Ferrari put on a screening for all its employees as part of its “Special Premiere” programme that shows brand new films free of charge at the Maranello Auditorium. Over fifteen hundred people watched the Ron Howard directed film, including some who were directly involved in that exciting and dramatic 1976 season, in the shape of mechanics who worked for the Scuderia back then. They could have been harsh critics, as is often the initial reaction of people who witnessed an event first hand and then see it depicted on film, however, the general feeling was that the American director managed to capture the essence of the sporting and human side of the event, which featured two rivals with very different characters, but also many traits in common, in the world of Formula 1 in the Seventies. “The essence of the story is there in the film if a bit exaggerated,” said Ermanno Cuoghi who was Niki Lauda’s chief mechanic, proudly stressing the importance of the team behind the drivers. “It is too focussed on the drivers: for example, it’s true that Niki was a great test driver, but he did not design the suspension...”

It’s hardly surprising that the scores from the veterans were not that generous, ranging from measly scores to more encouraging 7+ or around an 8-, while more flattering marks came from those who experienced the emotion and drama of something they had heard about so often from older colleagues or read in books and papers, in the darkness of a cinema. Exciting and inspiring were some of the adjectives used by the Ferrari filmgoers, proving the film has definitely hit the right note emotionally. In fact, a director like Howard is definitely a guarantee of quality and then, what more exciting subject could there be than Formula 1, in life or on the silver screen? So, a split verdict but a sincere one!