Korean Grand Prix 2012

[phil1993]

A big upturn in form, Brazil coming up... not inconceivable that Massa will again have to give up a position (maybe a win again?!) so his team-mate can win the title like in 2007.

Not really, because Vettel will wrap up the title in Austin.

[donald29]

I think Vettel will win it as well, probably before the last race, but it's not inconceivable.

[phil1993]

Interesting point raised by James Allen was that Rocky's messages to Vettel could actually be a message to Pirelli...

[antyk]

If alonso would admit, that he was slower and there were team orders involved, I don't think that video would be posted at all.

Mmm. So their driver gets dominated by his teammate all season long, and when in one single race he becomes faster and Fernando does not admit that, they start flocking the internet with messages of protest. That's just great. Let's just all forget the Massa of the first 15 races and focus on this once incident shall we...

What for some reason is not apparent to them, is that if Massa was performing at his maximum, Ferrari would have looked much better in the constructor's championship, and it would have been so tight between them in the driver's championship that team orders would not have been carried out at all!

I don't think you got my point. First of all it wasn't a protest or whatsoever. Sure alonso has been dominating massa the whole season long, no doubt about it and the team orders were absolutely the right thing to do but why couldn't alonso just admit that he was slower? It's not a shame. Instead of that he tries (not the first time) to make fools of us all, that's just typical fernando.

[bourbon]

That was a great race - Congrats @ Seb!!

The whole issue over at Ferrari is moot. Even if Massa is faster, the driver going for the championship has to stay in front.

[tderias]

If alonso would admit, that he was slower and there were team orders involved, I don't think that video would be posted at all.

Mmm. So their driver gets dominated by his teammate all season long, and when in one single race he becomes faster and Fernando does not admit that, they start flocking the internet with messages of protest. That's just great. Let's just all forget the Massa of the first 15 races and focus on this once incident shall we...

What for some reason is not apparent to them, is that if Massa was performing at his maximum, Ferrari would have looked much better in the constructor's championship, and it would have been so tight between them in the driver's championship that team orders would not have been carried out at all!

I don't think you got my point. First of all it wasn't a protest or whatsoever. Sure alonso has been dominating massa the whole season long, no doubt about it and the team orders were absolutely the right thing to do but why couldn't alonso just admit that he was slower? It's not a shame. Instead of that he tries (not the first time) to make fools of us all, that's just typical fernando.

It is a protest if you look at the comments on the youtube page lol. But I get what you mean. He should have admitted that Massa was faster, but I think it was quite tough for him to say that coming after the frustration of a race that reveals Red Bull have really upped their pace and the championship is slipping away from him.

I don't think he's trying to fool us, but more like he's trying to keep his morale high and be optimistic, and saying that he was slower than his teammate who he beat all season certainly won't help. We all know Massa was faster, and Fernando should have admitted that, but I understand why he couldn't.

[Green Flag]

A big upturn in form, Brazil coming up... not inconceivable that Massa will again have to give up a position (maybe a win again?!) so his team-mate can win the title like in 2007.

Not trying to start a discussion about 2007, but if I remember correctly the method Massa chose to "give up a position" was pushing like crazy after his pitstop and narrowly failing to stay ahead of his teammate. Of course had he stayed ahead he would have had to move over, which I suspect was precisely what he wanted (nothing wrong with that btw). Anyways, I hope he gets a chance to be equally magnanimous to his teammate this year

[donald29]

It was orchestrated through the stops and by strategy yeah.

[Green Flag]

Well I think "orchestrated" is still a bit strong, considering that the difference in their strategies was not that big... but I guess there was a lot of orchestration in the refueling era

Having said that I do understand that Massa was never going to be allowed to win that race under the circumstances, so in that sense I don't think "orchestrated" is terribly unfair either. But compared to some other occasions (even perfectly acceptable cases of deliberately yielding to a teammate like China 2008 or Korea 2012), the "team order" aspect of Brazil 2007 has probably been exaggerated.

[tderias]

Orchestrated or not, it had to be done, and Ferrari would've been a bunch of idiots if it didn't. Team orders are part of the game. Much like a football player who lays an assist to a striker who has a good chance of winning the golden boot. It's all in favour of the team, and F1 is a team game.

[Vorull]

Minidrivers!!

[iceman1]

Official race edit: