The day after their controversial one-two finish at the Hockenheim circuit in Germany, Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo chose to express his satisfaction with this long awaited result, through the Scuderia’s web site.
“I am very happy for all our fans who finally, yesterday, saw two Ferraris lead from start to finish as they dominated the race,” he said. “The result is down to the efforts of all our people, who never give up. Now we have to continue working like this, to improve the car so that is competitive at all the circuits we will encounter. Alonso and Massa also did very well, giving their all throughout the weekend.”
However, the President also reacted to the controversy surrounding their actions of asking Felipe Massa in a coded message understood by all, to move over and let his teammate through for the win, something they were reprimanded for after the race, hit with a 100,000 dollar fine and sent to appear before the World Council for doing, stating that there was nothing wrong with it.
“The polemics are of no interest to me. I simply reaffirm what I have always maintained, which is that our drivers are very well aware, and it is something they have to stick to, that if one races for Ferrari, then the interests of the team come before those of the individual. In any case, these things have happened since the days of Nuvolari and I experienced it myself when I was Sporting Director, in the days of Niki Lauda and not just then…Therefore enough of this hypocrisy, even if I can well believe that some people might well have liked to see our two drivers eliminate one another, but that is definitely not the case for me or indeed for our fans.”
The thing is, it would not have made any difference to the Scuderia in the slightest in regard to the constructors championship, they still would have received the same amount of points no matter which one came first and second, instead this team order worked for the individual, namely Fernando Alonso.
There would have been no need for eliminating either driver either, just because Red Bull did it once this year, McLaren have shown that teammates can race without taking each other out and still delivering a fine one two finish for the team. Normally it is a case of hold station, an order normally adhered to by all racers, as much as they may want to get past.
As for the drivers’ championship, there are still eight rounds to go, it is not as if Massa was mathematically out of the running for the crown with one race to go and Alonso on the verge of the crown. The fact is, team orders have been banned for a reason, and it was in fact Ferrari’s blatant use of them in Austria back in 2002 that the rules was introduced and yet they blatantly do so again. Just like Barrichello in 2002, who was made to give up his victory to Michael Schumacher after dominating all weekend, Massa was far from happy with the outcome, as was evident when he climbed from the car and refused his teammate’s gestures during the podium celebrations.
What will happen as a result of this? We will have to wait and see, however one thing that is known, a lot of fans, and not just one or two, a lot of hardcore Formula One fans have now switched their sets off in disgust as a result and if Ferrari can’t see that they have wounded the sport even further with their actions on Sunday afternoon, that is even sadder than Massa’s face after losing the crown in the last minutes of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Racing is racing, that is the crux of all this, and if Fernando Alonso couldn’t get past his teammate on track honestly, then just like Schumacher’s win in Austria 2002, it is nothing but a hollow victory, taken at the expense of those that matter the most.
;)
