Ferrari fined $100000; face the humiliation of being stripped of the win in German Grand Prix
Team Ferrari face the humiliation of being stripped of their first and second place (Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa) finish at the German Grand Prix after they were found to have breached the FIA rules regarding team orders. Ferrari were ordered before the governing stewards to explain the circumstances surrounding the overtaking of Felipe Massa by Fernando Alonso on the 48th lap of the race. Ferrari have already been fined $100000, and the matter has been referred to the FIA World Motor Sport Council.
A date for the council’s next meeting has not been announced as yet, but the council has the authority to disqualify the Ferraris from the race and award the win to Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who finished third in the race. Fernando Alonso finished first in the race after he overtook his Ferrari teammate in a fashion that the stewards decided was in contradiction with the FIA rules.
The FIA rules stipulate in article 39.1 that “Team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited."
Prior to the race, Brazilian Massa was trailing his Spanish teammate Alonso by 31 points and was told by the Ferrari race engineer, on lap 48, over the team radio: "Alonso is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand?" Massa responded to the message by letting Alonso overtake him on turn six just moments later.
Following the move, Rob Smedley was again heard on the team radio saying, "Good lad. Just stick with it now. Sorry."
The controversy has marred a dominant display by the two Ferraris in Germany, as the Italian team was considerably faster than their rivals and the drivers drove expertly.
Ferrari have also been charged with a breach of article 151-C of the International Sporting Code of FIA which relates to “fraudulent conduct, or any act prejudicial to the interests of competition or to the interests of motor sport”
Ferrari, on their part, have denied any wrongdoing in the race, and said that the incident was a driver’s decision and no instructions were given to drivers at any point. However, they have also said that they will not appeal against the FIA’s decision to fine them.
Stefano Domenicali, the team principal of Ferrari, said, “We are confident that the world council will know how to evaluate the overall facts correctly. We gave information to Felipe about the situation. We have already seen in the past that certain situations did not provide the best result to the team. So that was the information we gave and we left it to the driver to understand and take notice of it in order to make sure the team, in terms of results, gets the best."
However, Eddie Jordan, ex-Ferrari boss, begs to differ from the sentiment, and was quoted as saying: "It was unlawful and was theft. They stole from us the chance of having a wheel-to-wheel contest between the drivers. Ferrari should be ashamed. This was a team order. For me, it is cheating and these two cars should be excluded."
He said that it was the Italian car manufacturer’s blatant manipulation of race results at the 2002 Australian GP that led to a ban on team orders.
The controversy overshadows a brilliant team performance by the two Ferraris, and if the results are allowed to stand, Alonso is right back in the title contention, just 34 points behind the championship leader, Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.
It was a one-two finish by the McLaren duo as well, but for the fourth and fifth place; a below-par performance by the two McLarens, but if the Ferraris are stripped of their win, life would be much sweeter for the McLarens as the fourth and fifth finish will then become second and third.
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