Stewards decisions | Ferrari could face FIA sanctions

[Wolfie]

Press review from Iltalehti and MTV:

Mozart's opera "Così fan tutte" is Italian and means 'everybody does that'. That is also Italian media's attitude towards the team order Ferrari gave.

Ferrari got a huge fine on Sunday when Massa was ordered to let Alonso through. The Italian reporters didn't see anything wrong with this.

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- Let's not fool ourselves. There have always been team orders and there will always be team orders even though some hypocrat rule would deny it, Gazzetta dello Sport commented.
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Corriere dello Sport noticed that everyone in Ferrari didn't take the order to let Alonso pass very well.

- On the podium the team mates didn't greet each other. They took a very cold attitude towards each other.
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To Luca Colajanni it was a clear deal.

- Just a team mate overtaking his team mate. Fernando was faster and succeeded in the overtake. Everything went by the book, Colajanni said too La Repubblica.

The F1-reporter from La Repubblica, Vincezo Borgomeo, commented the statement chilly.

- No comment, Borgomeo wrote.
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La Stampa thought that Massa was the "moral winner". Alonso got the number 8. They also gave Alonso a lot of critisism.

- If Alonso would drive like he speaks he would be sent to Hispania. He talks too much in he team radio, he can't defend Ferrari's strategy in interviews, La Stampa scolded.

British press review:

The Sun

- By manipulating Germany GP:s results Ferrari might be kicked out of F1.

- Fernando Alonso's reputation sank into new bottom meters. Ferrari made F1 a laughing stock.

Daily Mirror

- Ferrari went back to their old tricks and defied the team order ban.

- When the world's media asked questions, Fernando Alonso scratched his neck as if he had a hanging rope around it. Beside him Felipe Massa leaned on his chair and tried to subcounsciously get as far away from his team mate as possible. Only Sebastian Vettel smiled because he now saw someone else being whipped. Alonso who made the Germany GP a fiasco sat in the middle as a winner but based upon his face and mumbling answers he could as well have been sitting in an electric chair.

The Independent

- These days Alonso is roaring in the radio more than BBC-commentator Chris Evans.

- The Spaniard thought that the victory was his. Unfortunately Ferrari agreed with him. Afterwards the stone-faced Alonso tried to take the attention away from him with the same self-confidence he ignored the scandalous victory in Singapore 2008 after which he got the nickname Teflonso. Massa sat beside him showing the same braveness he showed when he faced the defeat in Brazil GP 2008. Only thing different was that back then he was beaten by the opponent, not by his own team.

Il Tempo

- The regulation denying team orders is hypocrate and stupid but it's still valid. If there are good reasons to break this rule - and Ferrari had two of them yesterday, both excellent - it has to be done in a hypocrate way but not so stupidly like the engineers and especially Massa did in Hockenheim.

- Massa is experiencing Rubens Barrichello's pitiful destiny; he is slower, falls down to driver #2 and starts to have tantrums and complain about wrongdoings he thinks he is a victim of.

- In a similar situation McLaren and Red Bull order their drivers to change the setup of the engine in order to 'save fuel'. The other alternative is that these things had been agreed upon but Massa's race engineer and Massa himself didn't care about them; the first one even apologised to the driver and the other one lifted his foot off the pedal in a blatant way so that everybody would understand that he let his team mate past, just like Barrichello did to Michael Schumacher in Austria.

Corriere dello Sport

- If Ferrari would have said 'let Alonso through' to Massa, the team would have been disqualified. When Ferrari said "Fernando is faster than you" the team got fined and was called to a hearing.

- Everybody bends the rules: In the start Vettel pressed Alonso against the pitwall because rules give the driver ahead the right to choose their driving line. The move looked unnatural and unfair but nobody said anything about it and Vettel wasn't punished.

Il Giornale

- A rule that denies teamplay in a sport that has the idea of a team in it's DNA is crazy. Of course the drivers drive cars but ahead of everything goes the organisation which uses millions and millions to put Alonso, Massa and Co on the track. If teamplay is allowed in cycling where the cycles cost thousands of euros at the most then let's think about F1.

- Massa was aware that in this situation the Spaniard has to be driver #1. Even though he was clearly slower he didn't want to let his team mate through, instead he forced the team to make it clear to him. You could have ignored it at that point but instead he did it in a blatant way putting his team in shame.

La Stampa

- It would have been best for Ferrari if the driver would have understood himself how to act in a situation like this.

- In year 2007 he helped Kimi Räikkönen become a WDC; the next year the roles were reversed but he lost the WDC by one point. Now it was his turn again to act as a helper.

Spanish AS

- Alonso was the justified winner in Hockenheim because he overtook Vettel and was faster than his team mate during the whole weekend. After overtaking Alonso made a three second gap during only five laps.

AS blamed Ferrari and Massa for not handling the team order in a clean way. The magazine called Rob Smedley's action as an act of 'huliganism'. AS thought that the orders Smedley gave in the radio and Massa's clumsy slowing down was the reason that Ferrari's great double victory is now investigated by FIA.

- The Brasilian could have kept the order to himself, just like he did in Interlagos 2007. Instead Massa decided to almost stop so that everybody would see that he did it on purpose. All this could have been taken care of during the pitstop by delaying his pitstop by one second. After his first pitstop his speed got slower with hard tyres and when Alonso had almost passed him the Brazilian close the road and the cars almost hit. The man from Oviedo said in the radio: This is ridiculous. What would he had said to Stefano Domenicali if the drivers would have crashed?

Brazilian O Estado de São Paulo

- They thought that the result was a huge image-loss both for Ferrari and their drivers.

- Massa has already had to pay a hard price: many Brasilians lost their faith in him when he followed the order and let Alonso through. This brought back sad memories of Rubens Barrichello who did the same in 2002.

http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/6279727/Fer...

[Wolfie]

Briatore: Alonso is right and this is why
Published by Leo Turrini Mon, 26/07/2010 - 20:01

I always enjoy chatting with Briatore. For a number of reasons. First he is Italian, it's nice, I admit. Second I almost always disagree with his views and this reinforces my damn self. Third, as some will remember we have a bet, he and I, about Hamilton and Button. Fourth, well, Flavio visited Maranello so it has to be something important since he is the manager of El Banco ...

This is how our conversation today went. To avoid any doubts, this is strictly true.

'Look, you are so jealous of me lying in the sun on a hundred yards long boat that you write in rage but I suppose you are interested in my views of the story of Alonso and Massa. ...'

On the phone, Flavio Briatore was in a splendid form. And the rest is money, the father says he is finally happy now that he is the manager of Fernando of Spain who has just returned to success in the German GP.

'No, no, let's have this talk, Elisabetta's husband Flavio says: "I support 100% the choice Ferrari's pit made'.

I didn't doubt that now that you live almost next to Maranello.

'Let me speak. Did my friend Domenicali have to do it? The season is almost half-away and only Alonso can still win the title. In this situation leaving him behind Massa would have been foolish '.

Yes, but ...

'No but. The result table is a reality, okay? And it's quite clear that in order for Fernando to succeed we need help from Felipe. If the Brasilian doesn't co-operate then it's necessarily not impossible to replace him.'

Allow me? In truth he didn't like it based on that freezing radio communication, half-lies in the post race interview ...

'You are allowed but we have to be clear about one thing. If you say that Ferrari could and should have solved the problem before the start of the race, I agree '.

Well, someone has got something wrong.

'In Maranello they know very well who is the leader. The leader is Alonso. If you tell me that Smedley didn't sound happy on radio, I agree. But the substance remains intact. Each team has two cars on the track, F1 is a team sport even if the driver's title goes to only one man'.

What would you have done?

'What Domenicali did'.

I bet by now you are as thick as thieves.

'But I would have done it before he did, I can assure you that. I would not have waited until there was less than twenty laps to the finish '.

However, the FIA fined the Ferrari and there will be a hearing before the world council.

'I wouldn't worry. The President of the International Federation is Jean Todt who did the same at Ferrari's pitbox in Zeltweg in 2002. He can't order those who follow his example. Oh, it's a joke, ... '

Apart from the controversy, what are Alonso's chances?

'Um, is not easy. They are still behind. But you know, the thing I regret is that this mess has overshadowed the great merits of the Ferrari team. In less than a month we have pulled off a fantastic car, we have recovered half a second to Red Bulll. We're great '.

Just?

'Once again, it is difficult to secure that Alonso alone can do it if Massa doesn't take take points away from other candidates'.

Flavio, you already speak like a leader of the Horse.

'Come on with this story! No, it will not happen, don't worry '.

Oh, I'm quite calm.

'I'm too. I'm far away from the pitbox and I feel great. Why should I ruin my liver by going to a place that you are a part of? '

[Wolfie]

The Leo Turrini articles are poorly translated from Italy but the originals are found from here:

http://club.quotidiano.net/turrini