Ferrari Fined After German F1 Win
The celebrations for team Ferrari were short lived as after finishing the race with a one-two they received a heavy fine of $100,000 by stewards for the use of illegal 'team orders' as they recorded an impressive win.
The governing body of Formula One, International Automobile Federation (FIA) added that the breach by them could be referred to the world motorsport council for further consideration.
The team, was fined after it appeared that Brazilian Felipe Massa allowed Spaniard Fernando Alonso to overtake him, in what the authorities felt was a major violation of sporting regulations and code.
The move breached Article 39.1 of sporting regulations which states that "team orders which interfere with the result of the race are prohibited".
Massa allowed his partner to overtake him, as he himself ended his chances of an emotional victory one year on from a near-fatal crash, in what was perceived to be team strategy.
On the other hand the Spaniard celebrated his second triumph of the season, and a remarkable 23rd of a glittering motorsport career.
There was however disappointment for Sebastian Vettel who was on pole for the sixth time in 11 races.
He moved aggressively to his right at the start to try and block the Ferrari duo handing Massa a clear track to beat both him and Alonso very early on in the race.
With the Ferraris one-two for the first 13 laps before Alonso pitted, the main draw for the crowd gathered in for the race was to see the battle of wits between the Massa and his Spanish team mate who was perturbed with the lack of space.
The race took a decisive turn towards the Spaniard at this stage when, Massa was sent a veiled message ordering him to allow Alonso to take over.
Rob Smedley who is Massa's race engineer conveyed the message, disguising it subtly over the team radio: "So, Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?".
As a result Alonso surged ahead as Massa gave him way, and Smedley took notice of the move, and acknowledged by saying to the Brazilian "Good lad. Just stick with it now. Sorry".
The plot thickened when a visibly demoralized Massa shrugged off Alonso's attempted embrace at the end of the race, and the disappointed crowd was further saddened when their main hope Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel failed to win despite a clear head start.
The race day was the first anniversary of the Hungarian Grand Prix accident that left Massa in a coma for days.
He was left to fight life-threatening injuries after being hit on the head by bouncing debris in the qualifying stages of the race.
Subsequently the Brazilian missed the rest of the 2009 season, which extends his run without a win in a race to years, and he was understandably disappointed at being dealt a cruel blow on the verge of a win.
The Brazilian tried to downplay the controversy at the post race press conference, saying it was team strategy and he had no qualms about it.
“The only thing I feel is that we were working for the team, and we're doing a very good job for the team and that's the most important thing".
Alonso also remained tight lipped about the incident, claiming that a Ferrari one-two was the most important factor in the race: "I think that's a very strong result for the team, top three in qualifying, top two in the race and the best thing is that the car keeps improving.It's not a result down to the weather conditions or anything like that it's a good performance from the team and hopefully next week in Hungary we can do a good weekend as well and score some strong points for the team".
Local boy Vettel was pleased with the result despite letting go of a great opportunity of recording a win in his home race.
"I think we had a good race", he said.
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