Ferrari has escaped any further punishment from the FIA for their role in the team orders debacle at July’s German Grand Prix. After a meeting at Paris on Wednesday afternoon, in which the Italian team was asked to explain its actions infront of the World Motor Sport Council, it has been decided that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that the team hadn’t breached the regulations to a severe point.
On Lap 48 of the 67-lap encounter, Brazilian Felipe Massa slowed down to allow his team-mate Fernando Alonso past at Hockenheim. Massa had been told on the team radio by his race engineer Rob Smedley the lap before that “Fernando is faster than you.”
After the incident, Smedley’s transmission spoke out trouble for Ferrari infront of millions of worldwide television watchers.
“Good lad, just keep it up now, sorry!”
Alonso went onto win the race, but Massa’s expressions on the podium after the race suggested the bitter taste in the Brazilian’s mouth and in our mouths too. Ferrari insisted that Felipe let Alonso through by his own accord. They also used the case that Massa was given a similar coded message at the Australian Grand Prix in March, yet then, there was no switch of position, with Massa ending up 3rd and Alonso in 4th.
After the race, stewards at the Hockenheim meeting fined Ferrari the maximum possible fine of $100,000 for breach of two regulations:
39.1: Team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited.
151. C: any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motorsport generally" can be punished.
The WMSC upheld the fine and has also agreed to have a look into removing the rather ridiculous team order regulation, put in place when Rubens Barrichello let Michael Schumacher through to win the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix on the very last corner of the race.
Ferrari can now gear up for their home race, Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix with Alonso sitting 41 points behind McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in the drivers title battle, and Ferrari 80 points shy of Red Bull Racing in the constructors championship. However, most will hope that the Maranello team won’t win either championship, in the aftermath of this latest escapade to hinder Formula One’s image, which has been fairly clean in 2010.
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