FORMULA ONE GERMAN GRAND PRIX:IMMEDIATELY confronted with allegations the team had implemented team orders, banned in 2002 following the Austrian Grand Prix incident where leader Rubens Barrichello was forced to cede victory to Michael Schumacher by slowing within metres of the chequered flag, the team insisted the radio conversation had simply informed Massa regarding Alonso's pace and it was the Brazilian driver's decision to let his team-mate past.
Massa claimed he had allowed Alonso to pass because he was struggling for pace on the harder compound tyre.
“I know what I can do. I know I can win races. Everybody saw that today. I can win and be competitive,” he said. “But on the hard tyres I’m struggling. This is exactly what happened in the races (in the past). On the soft tyre I was strong, on the hard struggling. There’s nothing new there. I know why I am sometimes a bit penalised – it’s just because of the hard tyres this year.
“For sure, we don’t have team orders in the team. We do the race we can. If you can’t do the race you can you need to think about the team.”
Asked again if he had responded to a request to give up the lead through, Massa faltered.
“I am very professional and I’ve always showed that in my team,” he said before firing the question back. “You are professional too, yes? You work for a company and do what you have to do for them. Today I was professional and that’s it.”
Alonso, though, was largely unrepentant, claiming, “what’s important is the team result, so I’m happy”.
In defence of the passing move, the Spaniard cited the accident between Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel at this year’s Turkish Grand Prix, a collision that denied the team a one-two finish.
“Sometimes we have seen this year team-mates crashing into each other and losing 42 points. Today we have 42 points in the pocket. It’s what we are here for.”
Not in the view of the race stewards, who immediately summoned Ferrari officials to explain the incident. They couldn’t, it seemed, and the ruling came swiftly – a breach of Article 39.1 of the Sporting Regulation, in which “team orders designed to influence the outcome of a race are not permitted” and of Article 151c of the Sporting Code which prohibits “any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally”.
A fine of €77,000 followed, with the incident also due to go before the World Motor Sport Council.
Certainly, yesterday’s fine represents a minor slap on the wrist in a paddock where a car’s nosecone can cost tens of thousands of euro and driver salaries are measured in the tens of millions. It even pales next to the €390,000 fine imposed on Ferrari in the wake of the 2002 incident in Austria.
Ironically, the matter will be further ruled on by the Motor Sport Council of the FIA, an organisation presided over by Jean Todt, the man who, in Austria in 2002, in his then role as team principal of Ferrari, imposed the decision on Barrichello.
Yesterday’s contentious result leaves McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, fourth here, in charge of the title race on 157 points, 14 clear of Jenson Button, who followed his team-mate home in fifth.
The state of the title battle though will not be the issue resonating on from this weekend, however. Instead it will be the return to Formula One of the worst aspects of Ferrari’s ever-desperate desire to figure in a championship shakedown. After the events in Austria eight years ago, Ferrari arrived at the following event in Monaco to be met by a sea of banners labelling them cheats.
Next weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest, the same slogans will undoubtedly be worked up once more.
