Ferrari Principal Hits Out at Formula One “Hypocrisy”
Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo has hit out at those who castigated Scuderia Ferrari’s team strategy at the recent German Grand Prix, denouncing them of duplicity. Spain’s Fernando Alonso triumphed at Hockenheim after teammate Felipe Massa contrived to give him the lead after a discreet directive from Massa’s race engineer Rod Smedley requested the Brazilian to pave the way for Alonso’s triumph. After Massa complied with the team orders, Smedley was then heard apologising to his man.
The Formula One community has at large lashed out at Ferrari for its inept handling of affairs at Hockenheim. However, an exasperated Montezemolo has finally put his foot down at the furore, which he clearly regards as unwarranted. The Scuderia boss snapped that team orders were an accepted and regularly-practiced feature of Formula One racing. He insisted that at Ferrari, the gains of the team have always taken precedence over those of any individual racer.
The outcome in Germany has emphatically revitalised Alonso’s bid for the Drivers’ Championship, a title race that has now been thrown wide open. Ferrari’s Spanish protagonist currently stands at 34 points adrift of championship leader Lewis Hamilton, with the results of eight of the season’s runs yet to be known. Meanwhile Massa, who had no luck with points in his last three races prior to Hockenheim, is 38 points behind his Ferrari partner. McLaren’s Jenson Button and Red Bull catalysts Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber are also reasonable contenders for the 2010 title.
The controversial occurrence occasioned when Massa, recuperating from his severe accident in Hungary last year, received a discreet radio transmission from his race engineer Bob Smedley on Lap 47 that Alonso was outpacing him, and then, on Lap 49, the Brazilian reduced his speed to pave the way for Alonso to overtake him.
The Ferrari team orders provoked a sharp outcry from the Formula One community at large, with the likes of BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) Formula One expert Eddie Jordan, Jenson Button and Red Bull principal Christian Horner challenging the ethics behind the Italian squad’s antics in Germany.
Montezemolo, however, maintains his side’s uprightness, remarking the backlash had not unnerved him by any means, and that the team stood by its approach. He stressed there were examples of such instances since the times of Tazio Nuvolari, who used to drive for Ferrari in the 1930s and that he had had first hand exposure of such matters during his tenure as a sporting director during the era of Niki Lauda. Therefore, the Ferrari boss insisted, he had had enough of the wider motor sporting community’s double standards, whilst stating he understood why some people would have liked to see the two Ferrari drivers take each other out of the race.
The Scuderia boss said he was overjoyed for the Ferrari fans who had finally seen a solid performance from their drivers, who had been able to dominate the proceedings from the beginning till the end. Ferrari manager Stefano Domenicali predictably toed the line taken by his boss, remarking he was optimistic the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), to whom Ferrari have now been referred to, would tackle the issue with due pragmatism. The Italian team decided against challenging the decree of race stewards, who fined Ferrari $100,000 for the alleged infringement of Article 39.1 of the sport’s regulations. The race stewards at Hockenheim slapped Scuderia with the maximum monetary fine they are authorised to dish out, and then handed the matter over to the WMSC for further deliberation.
Red Bull boss, Christian Horner, who must be relieved the media focus has finally shifted from allegations of favouritism within his own squad over to the under fire Ferrari, led the team of critics who professed to have been highly affronted by the Italian team’s race strategy. Horner lamented how Formula One fans had been robbed of viewing a true racing battle and asserted that Ferrari’s actions, if left unpunished, would set a poor example for the future.
Tags: