Formula One special report: Ferrari welcome end of team orders
Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenciali has expressed his delight on lifting of the ban on Formula One team orders.
The Italian based team was fined heavily after Felipe Massa was ordered by the team to move off the racing line to allow teammate Fernando Alonso to overtake. This effectively ensured all 25 points in the German Grand Prix to the Spaniard’s credit. However,
the International Automobile Federation has finally annulled the rule against team orders.
The move to ‘officially’ forbid team orders was argued to be pointless and the FIA has recognized that one way or another, team orders have virtually been a part of the motorsport since a long time.
The Ferrari team boss branded the rule itself as ‘pointless hypocrisy’ and was glad that the governing body finally saw reason.
“For us, Formula One is a team sport and we have always maintained that viewpoint and it should be treated as such. The regulations already include provisions that prevent certain situations being managed in an extreme manner."
However, with team orders to be allowed to exist in certain situations, teams would arguably wait till the first 5 or 6 races, pick a number 1 driver and base their strategies on his performance. With all 12 teams potentially following suit, we might as
well be left with 12 cars on track actually racing each other.
The Ferrari team was left ruing over the missed opportunity when their driver, Fernando Alonso, lost the championship on the last race of the season – A badly timed pit stop dramatically robbed the Spaniard of his third driver’s title. However, Domenciali
wants to move on with it and believes that mistakes of the past should not be repeated in the future.
Owing to Ferrari’s preparations for the next season, here is what the Scarlet team boss had to say:
“We know that in 2011 we will have to start off immediately with a car capable of winning, so that we are not always having to catch up, as was the case this year,"
"We will make adjustments, but they will only be revealed at the right moment. From a technical point of view, we must try not to repeat the mistakes which occasionally led us to take a step backwards rather than forwards."
Formula One saw arguably one of its most competitive seasons this term and few would deny that the 2011 season would be any different. Long gone are the days when Ferrari had an undeniable monopoly over the rest of the constructors participating. With Red
Bull and McLaren Mercedes in the mix, there are now more competitive duos that might be seen slugging it out on track for a podium step. This in turn, ensures that team orders could play a vital part for the fate of the driver’s championship this term.
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