Ferrari in for a Tough Penalty: Niki Lauda
Multiple Formula One world championship title winner, Niki Lauda, has said Ferrari are in for a harsh treatment by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) when it convenes to discuss the team’s breach of rules at the German Grand Prix earlier this year.
The Italian team came under fire when it became known the Scuderia had resorted to team orders to engineer Fernando Alonso’s win in Hockenheim, costing his team mate, Felipe Massa, a highly deserved triumph. Massa, who is yet recuperating from the psychological scars of his life-threatening accident last year at the Hungarian Grand Prix, was told by his engineer, Rod Smedley, to slow down so that Alonso could take the lead. Race stewards in Hockenheim immediately reacted to what was seen as damning evidence of Ferrari’s resort to team strategy to ensure Fernando Alonso was able to take the number one spot on the podium. Ferrari were slapped with a hefty fine worth $ 100,000 and referred to the WMSC for further punishment.
The Scuderia management as well as the drivers remained adamant that team orders had not been employed in Germany. Massa insisted his decision to let his Spanish team mate pass was based on his own discretion rather than orders from the team. Yet, Formula One pundits and millions of Formula One fans around the world cried foul of Ferrari’s flippant disregard for regulations. Fans were angry at being denied a true racing spectacle and since then, many have started to regard Felipe Massa as a clear number-driver in the Ferrari family.
Lauda poured scorn over Ferrari’s tactics, saying it was shameful the team had not let Massa take a victory he so richly deserved after the serious accident he had had last year. The Austrian Formula One great said it did not make sense to him why his former team had resorted to such tactics when the title race was still so wide open. Lauda had also been biting in his criticism of Fernando Alonso’s handling of the press after stealing the win from beneath his Brazilian team mate’s nose.
Now as the WMSC judgment on the Hockenheim saga looms closer, Niki Lauda believes Ferrari will be justly grilled for not respecting the rules. Lauda said either the rules were altered, or everyone followed them to the book. Whilst the veteran racer acknowledged that people’s opinion over the morality of team strategy would always remain polarized, he nevertheless deemed his former team guilty of underestimating and insulting fans intelligence. Lauda said Ferrari were deceitful in believing fans would buy their protestations of innocence when radio communications between Massa and his race engineer had provided ocular proof of the team’s culpability. Lauda argued it was free and fair racing between all drivers on circuit, whether team mates or not, that fans sacrificed their time and money to view. It was the raw racing aspect of Formula One that had made the sport that drew audiences worldwide, elaborated the former world champion.
Whereas some within the Formula One community refused to make much of Ferrari’s Hockenheim tactics, arguing team strategy had been a traditional part of the Formula One spectacle, others were not so forgiving. Among them was Red Bull Racing boss, Christian Horner, who had ironically himself come under criticism for favouring Sebastian Vettel over his team mate Mark Webber twice this season. Horner said it was a shame Ferrari had denied the fans of a real racing spectacle, further stating that at Red Bull, they would always give both their drivers a fair opportunity to fight for the title. Adding to the Scuderia’s critics was McLaren principal, Martin Whitmarsh, who reassured the press that his side would never resort to the dubious practice of team orders. Whitmarsh’s leading men, McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, both in this year’s title contention, agreed with their boss. Button said if he was ever told his team mate was faster than him, just as Massa had been informed by his engineer as a veiled message in Germany, he would go faster rather than slowing down on the Brazilian’s fashion.
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