Missed Chance: FIA Let Ferrari Off the Hook at Team Orders Hearing

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: September 8, 2010

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Today saw Ferrari escape further sanctions from the FIA over the "team orders" incident at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in July.

Many suggestions were made over potential punishments. These ranged from a lenient slap on the wrist, to a strong points penalty, and even the absurd suggestion of throwing the team out of the championship. In the end, Ferrari were only made to pay the legal fees for the hearing.

Let's start with some background to the story.

At the start of the German Grand Prix, Felipe Massa jumped pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso. After a couple of failed overtaking attempts, Alonso dropped back from the Brazilian.

Following the stops, at about two-thirds distance, Massa received a radio communication from Rob Smedley, his race engineer. He told Massa, "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?" Soon after this message was received, Massa mysteriously slowed on the exit of the hairpin, allowing teammate Alonso to overtake him.

After this occurred, Massa received another message from Smedley, saying "Good boy, sorry."

Alonso would take victory, with Massa finishing 4.2 seconds behind.

The stewards were puzzled at these messages that Massa had received, with the last message in particular catching their eye. While Smedley claimed that he was saying sorry about being overtaken, the FIA stewards had deemed that the Ferrari team had breached Article 39.1 of the FIA Sporting Regulations, and also Article 151c of the FIA International Sporting Code. These refer to a ban on team orders and bringing the sport into disrepute, respectively. They were subsequently fined $100,000, with the matter referred to the FIA World Motor Sport Council.

Ever since the Grand Prix, many opinions have been thrown around the paddock.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner called it "the most blatant team order e...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

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