Ferrari to take legal action if FIA strips off their points
Ferrari is not happy with what the critics and other professionals have been stating about the teams move at the German Grand Prix. The Italian team insensitively replied to Lauda after his statement against the team as the team believes they did the right thing by letting their leading point scorer Fernando Alonso pass Felipe Massa at Hockenheim so that Alonso can close in Mark Webber’s lead in the drivers’ standings for the championship. According to the La Gazzetta dello Sport, the team will launch a civil action against the FIA if the team is stripped of its points after the FIA World Motorsport Council hearing.
Ferrari was smacked with a fine after this act in July and it does not look very good for the team after the criticism they were thumped with. The former FIA president Max Mosley also condemned the team of their act and believes Ferrari should be stripped of its points.
"In this sort of situation, the best policy is to respect and trust the highest level of the sport's governing body," Ferrari issued a statement.
The Italian team cannot defend itself from this however; their only option is to argue that team orders should be permitted as long as it does not affect the race of rival teams. They can also defend themselves by explaining the true situation to Massa by race engineer Rob Smedley that Alonso was clearly the faster driver and the team issued this order in order to avoid any racing incident, as they could not risk the championship.
Team Ferrari started its journey in the Formula 1 in 1951 and has been known as one of the most dominant teams yet. The team made its point in its very first full season as the team scored a total of 57 points securing the 2nd position in the constructors’ standings. Keeping its momentum, it won its first Championship in the year 1961 with 52 points. This was a remarkable performance however; the team could not perform at its best for the next 2 years as they scored a disappointing 6th and 4th place. Ferrari regained its momentum as the team won its second championship in the year 1964. The team was unable to win the drivers’ and constructors’ titles before the legendary Austrian driver Niki Lauda secured his first drivers’ title and helped Ferrari secure the constructors title. Niki continued his dominance for the following 2 years and Ferrari got to score 3 consecutive constructors’ titles in 1975, 1976 and 1977. The Austrian left the team the in 1978 to join team Brabham. Ferrari won again in 1979 without Lauda. After 2 disappointing years, the Italian team won again in 1982 and further continued to win the title in the years 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008 making it 16 championships. The team gave a record-breaking performance in 2004 with the help of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello when they scored 262 points. Ferrari currently does not have a chance of winning the constructors’ title as they are in 3rd place with 238 points way behind McLaren with 304 points. However, Ferrari still has a chance of securing the drivers’ title for Fernando Alonso who is just 20 points behind the leader Mark Webber.
Mosley thinks that the FIA has a duty to the watching public and they should not compromise the integrity of the sport by making it predictable and deciding the results to their requirements.
"Most teams are calling for the withdrawal of team orders, which I can understand, because it's in their interests. However, if we are to meet the needs of the public, who are in their millions, watching races all around the world and ultimately funding the sport, then we need to keep the ban, both cars and both drivers should lose the points they achieved in the German Grand Prix. I will not make any recommendation, but on the facts at the moment there should have been some sporting sanction and not only a fine." Mosley told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday.
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