Ferrari fined, referred to WMSC

[4me2]

Ferrari fined, referred to WMSC

By Jonathan Noble Sunday, July 25th 2010, 16:04 GMT




The FIA has announced that its World Motor Sport Council is to consider whether Ferrari should face further sanctions for the team orders controversy at the German Grand Prix, after the team was fined $100,000 for its actions.

Fernando Alonso was handed victory at Hockenheim after his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa sacrificed the lead on lap 48 - soon after the team had told the Brazilian that he was slower than the car behind him.
Although Ferrari has insisted that it did not issue a team order, and merely provided Massa with information, the race stewards after the German GP had a different opinion.
After speaking to team principal Stefano Domenicali, team manager Massimo Rivola, plus Alonso and Massa to examine the events of the afternoon, the race stewards decided that the regulations had been broken.

In a statement issued on Sunday night, the FIA stated that a breach of Article 39.1, which bans team orders, and 151c, which relates to bringing the sport into disrepute, had been committed.
It said that the penalty would be: "Fine $100,000. The case will also be referred to the FIA World Motorsport Council for further consideration."
Alonso said after the race that the drivers were both simply what is best for the team.
"We tried to do our race, we tried to do as good as we can," said Alonso, who scored his second win of the year. "We are professional drivers and we try to work as a team and we try to do the best we can every day."


http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85552

[corskey]

Disgusting team orders issued by Ferrari today. I will never be able to get those two hours of my life back again - Cheating Barstewards

[-AMO-]

Alonso showed what a lying, greasy spanish cunt he was during the press conference. He ACTUALLY tried to make out that he genuinely overtook massa! We've all got TVs you bull torturing twat. I hope ferrari never win another fucking race, they're a bunch of deceptive cunts.

[blaggard]

As usual The red cunts get away with it, anyone else would lose their results and posdibly face further bans!

[itsthejay]

they should have gave massa the full points and fcuked alonso's points off for cheating.
if i was massa i would have told them to fcuk off with team orders, he did a good race

[dpSparhawk]

Nothing will ever change. I'll admit that I was a fan of Michael Schumacher and I still am but Ferraris arrogance pisses me right off.

You could see what was happening quite a few laps beforehand. Massa's car suddenly getting all twitchy. It was obvious and only a matter of time before the pass happened.

Very disappointing.

[itsthejay]

Nothing will ever change. I'll admit that I was a fan of Michael Schumacher and I still am but Ferraris arrogance pisses me right off.

You could see what was happening quite a few laps beforehand. Massa's car suddenly getting all twitchy. It was obvious and only a matter of time before the pass happened.

Very disappointing.

same as yourself, still am a big fan of schumacher wish he had a better car to prove he's not passed it. but rules are rules and like you said you could see them orders were comming before they said to massa. alonso is faster than you sorry.

[stu99]

If as they say Alonso was faster then he would have been able to pass Massa without worrying about it. Simple thing is that he couldn't pass Massa of his own doing so they cheated and ultimately may affect the outcome of the world Championship. If they had have tried to pass each other and collided (as Red Bull did recently) then things could have been very different but that's the nature of racing.

All this about doing it for the team is bollocks, they would have had a 1-2 finish either way. This is about the World Championship and Alonso.

I also think the FIA (Jean Todt) slapped the $1m on quickly so that they weren't then forced to change the result.

[blaggard]

** Yeah I know, Daily Mail but a decent article**



Ferrari pull fast one! Outrage but no surprise as F1 hits a new low after Fernando Alonso usurps Felipe Massa at Hockenheim


By Jonathan McEvoy reports from Hockenheim



The fallacy in offering a lament for the anti-sport that masqueraded as Sunday's German Grand Prix is that it is not worth clearing your throat to sing the song.

For all the understandable sense of outrage in Hockenheim that Ferrari hamfistedly instructed Felipe Massa to cede the lead so their championship-chasing driver Fernando Alonso would win in his place, it was a strikingly naive reaction.

That is to say Formula One is riddled with cheaters and connivers, bending the rules at will. We're not talking about the General Synod of the Church of England here.


After you: Massa (left) looks glum after allowing Ferrari team-mate Alonso (centre) to pass him during the race


It's not an excuse for what happened at turn six of the 49th lap. It's just to observe that the power of skulduggery to stir the blood would be hugely greater had grand prix racing not long ago debased its reputation for sporting purity.

The facts of the latest skirmish are these. Massa took the lead at the start, when Red Bull's pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel left the road clear for him to pass. Alonso, caught up in Vettel's aggressive move that nudged him close to the wall, was second.

Delight: Fernando Alonso celebrates victory in Germany

So it remained for lap after lap. Alonso tried to pressurise Massa into a mistake. He inched ahead of the Brazilian coming into that same turn six hairpin on lap 21, only to lose out around the corner. He tried again at turn 12, but again without success.
Increasingly rattled, Alonso told the team over the radio: 'This is ridiculous.' He wanted to be handed the lead, given that he needed the points to push himself further into the championship fray.


Victory: Fernando Alonso drives ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton in Hockenheim

By lap 47, Ferrari had clearly decided to order Massa to move aside. His race engineer, Englishman Rob Smedley, broke the news in what the stewards interpreted in the only way they could, as code for 'let him pass'.

Smedley said slowly in his Middlesbrough drawl: 'OK, so, Fernando is faster than you.' On lap 48, he repeated: 'Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm that you understand that message.' On lap 49, Massa slowed to a crawl and Alonso breezed by. He went on to win, narrowing his deficit behind Hamilton to 21 points. Massa, a year to the day after a stray spring fractured his skull, was second. Vettel, after that wasteful start, was third.

The mood on the Ferrari pit wall and in Alonso's hug with Massa was half-hearted. The press conference that followed was absurd. Both drivers insisted team orders had not been issued, which is all the ink we will give to their contemptible argument.


Exciting start: Sebastian Vettel leads the pack on the opening lap

Better to hear from Niki Lauda, who almost burned to death in a Ferrari 34 years ago. 'I've never heard a driver talk such bull****,' he said of Alonso. 'He has no character. This was the most stupid thing I have ever seen from Ferrari. Why did they do it? They did not need to because the championship is alive for another eight races. Why could Massa not have a chance to win, a year since he had the accident that could have cost his life?'

Some fans will say that the team orders rule is a stupid one. It goes to the heart of the age-old debate about whether Formula One is a team sport or an individual one.

The feeling here is that the drivers should be allowed to race free of constraints. It feels more like sport. It provides jousting on the track, which is infinitely preferable to sleight of hand on the pit wall.


Let-down: Sebastian Vettel could only finish third despite starting from pole position

That is a discussion for another day. The fact is that Article 39.1 was introduced in 2002 when Ferrari ordered Rubens Barrichello to move over on the last lap of an Austrian Grand Prix to let team-mate Michael Schumacher win.

It states unambiguously: 'Team orders that interfere with a race result are prohibited.'

It is no accident that Alonso is at the centre of the storm. It was he who benefited when Renault rigged the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix by asking his team-mate Nelson Piquet to risk injury by crashing. He has since said that he counts it as a worthy win. It was Alonso who demanded No 1 status at McLaren when, having won the second of his two world titles the previous year, he was beaten by rookie Hamilton.


Brit of a disappointment: Lewis Hamilton could only finish fourth

Only last month Alonso complained petulantly when Hamilton gained fortuitous advantage via the timing of a drive-through penalty at the European Grand Prix. His anger mounted further when he was rightly punished at Silverstone a fortnight ago for cutting the chicane.

It seems that his team, eager to capitalise on improved recent speed and win the drivers' title, gave in to the demands of their talented but truculent star.

But, as we were asking, who is surprised by the moral vacuum? After all, Flavio Briatore, boss of Renault at the time of the fixed 2008 race, was back walking the grid in Valencia. Nobody seemed to care. Certainly not Alonso, who hugged him in public view.

Similarly, Briatore's co-conspirator, Pat Symonds, rather than hide in shame for a suitable period, is already writing for a Formula One magazine. I'd like to read his expert thoughts on this one.
And who will sit on the World Motor Sport Council in judgement on Ferrari's felony next month? FIA president Jean Todt, who issued the team orders in Austria eight years ago.
Surprised by yesterday's antics? You must be joking.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/for...=feeds-newsxml

[toonarmynufc]

total disgrace .and what about the massive fine £65.000.thats fuck all 2 a f1 team both drivers should be banned

[blaggard]

I would not ban Massa who was put in an impossible position by his repeatedly corrupt team and a petulant Spaniard who, realising that Massa was out driving him chose, as always to whine to his Mummy!
Ferrari should get a McClaren Style punishment, points deducted, race bans, a fine in millions etc. but that will never happen.

[stu99]

I like Massa a lot but whichever way you look at it, he along with the rest of them, conspired to modify/change/affect the result of that race. He must be punished. What he then should do is have a good look at himself and decided that he's better than that and can win races on his own merit.

[blaggard]

For me it was all brought into stark relief by the TG piece on Senna last night, I've been following F1 since I was about 10 (1963) and despite repeated efforts to drag itself out of the shit it just keeps sinking deeper.
It's a fucking disgrace.

[4me2]

Both should be given a two race ban and stripped of yesterday's points to set an example.

[4me2]

On a lighter note:


Alonso celebrates his greatest fixed Formula One victory so far




Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso last night hailed his Formula One victory at Hockenheim as the greatest fixed result of his career, far outshining his manufactured victory for Renault in the 2008 season.

Alonso told reporters after the race, “This is a great day for me in my career. The fixed victory for Renault at Singapore in 2008 has hung over me for more than two years as the prime example of me benefiting from a team that cheats.”
“But now we have another tainted victory, in the red of Ferrari, which will finally put the Renault incident to bed once and for all.”
“I am delighted that in the future when when people talk about cheating your way to a race victory they will picture Fernando Alonso in the red of the Scuderia Ferrari rather than Alonso in the overalls of Renault. It is where this team needs to be.”


inquiry

Alonso won after Ferrari’s other driver Felipe Massa slowed to let him past following a coded instruction on his radio that was so discreet it was deciphered by every single member of the viewing public, even those who did not speak English.
Unfortunately, the rules of Formula One strictly prohibit team orders, in the sense of the word ’strictly’ that means someone shakes a fist at you and takes your pocket money as punishment, and so Ferrari were fined $100,000 with the race result standing.


A Ferrari spokesperson said, “$100,000 seems fair. So we’ve already set aside the $800,000 needed to allows us to fix the remainder of the races so that Alonso can have the best chance of winning the title.”
Former driver Martin Brundle said, “It will be interesting to see how Ferrari will top this latest rule-breaking performance.”
“There are so few avenues left to them if they want to break the rules without being disqualified, and so it makes the rest of the season absolutely intriguing.”


http://newsarse.com/2010/07/26/alons...ictory-so-far/

[Greyfox]

Fucking joke. £100k is a drop in the ocean to them! May as well have fiend them 10p!

[lithho]

its simple, alonso went crying cause massa was 3 seconds in front and had no chance of getting him at one point. I too like massa how ever he followed orders to break rules so all points should be stripped and vettel handed the win. The press thing after wards was just cringe worthy. Alonso should pay the fine him self just for lieing on tv. As for that old washed up has been agreeing with them, ( Michael Schumacher) just shows how out of touch with the rules he is

[bimba]

it's all bullshit!.... if that be McLaren, RBR or other team all of them would behave exactly the same! By end of the day F1 is business for all of them, they don't give a fuck who will get 1 or 2, they only care about the scores of Championship. From our side of view - yes it makes you sad and angry, but let's face it Who Cares What You Think! It will happens next race and it will happens in all rest of future recess.

[Freddy]

I'm split on this. I understand the outrage here for all the obvious reasons (rules, viewers robbed etc) but it is a team sport. Teams want to win the constructors' championship first and a drivers' championship second. When you consider the filthy amount of money it takes to run a team I guess you have to justify participating if you don't win.

Each team has two drivers, not one.

Wouldn't all teams do this if say it was the last race of the season and the drivers had to swap places so that the team could win the championship?! Wouldn't the driver leading feel obliged to swap so that the team that sweat over the car all year could win? I would. I couldn't look the mechanics in the eye otherwise.

I'd lay money on it that some teams will have a secret signal in place. Obviously you can't mention it over the radio any more. But what's to stop a cough or a flashing light on the steering wheel? I wouldn't have my driver slow down in an obvious way either, I'd have him go off the track (and get back on).

These guys are over paid pawns for the team. Sacrificing a pawn to win a game of chess is standard.

Don't get me wrong I didn't enjoy witnessing the interviews afterwards. Fucking cringeworthy. Maybe I just don't agree with this relatively new rule which makes this tactic appear wrong.

I'm all for free racing but when you have a shot at the championship you should be able to be tactical. You certainly don't want your drivers knocking each other off the track *cough*RedBull*cough*.

[4me2]

I'm split on this. I understand the outrage here for all the obvious reasons (rules, viewers robbed etc) but it is a team sport. Teams want to win the constructors' championship first and a drivers' championship second. When you consider the filthy amount of money it takes to run a team I guess you have to justify participating if you don't win.

Each team has two drivers, not one.

Wouldn't all teams do this if say it was the last race of the season and the drivers had to swap places so that the team could win the championship?! Wouldn't the driver leading feel obliged to swap so that the team that sweat over the car all year could win? I would. I couldn't look the mechanics in the eye otherwise.

I'd lay money on it that some teams will have a secret signal in place. Obviously you can't mention it over the radio any more. But what's to stop a cough or a flashing light on the steering wheel? I wouldn't have my driver slow down in an obvious way either, I'd have him go off the track (and get back on).

These guys are over paid pawns for the team. Sacrificing a pawn to win a game of chess is standard.

Don't get me wrong I didn't enjoy witnessing the interviews afterwards. Fucking cringeworthy. Maybe I just don't agree with this relatively new rule which makes this tactic appear wrong.

I'm all for free racing but when you have a shot at the championship you should be able to be tactical. You certainly don't want your drivers knocking each other off the track *cough*RedBull*cough*.

Would you feel the same way if you'd just spent several hundred quid to travel and watch the race ?