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‘Team Orders’ Issued By Ferrari Have Fans Up in Arms
Alan Baldwin | July 26, 2010

Ferrari Ferrari's Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, left, Ferrari's team principal Stefano Domenicali, center, and Ferrari's Brazilian driver Felipe Massa pose on the podium of the Hockenheimring circuit on Sunday in Hockenheim, after the Formula One German Grand Prix. Ferrari's Spanish driver Fernando Alonso won the race ahead of Ferrari's Brazilian driver Felipe Massa and Red Bull's German driver Sebastian Vettel. (AFP Photo/Christof Stache)
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Hockenheim, Germany. The “team orders” that caused a furor at the German Grand Prix on Sunday were banned eight years ago after Ferrari and Michael Schumacher triggered a roar of outrage that echoed around the world.

At the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, the German won after Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello was ordered to move over — and did so — at the last corner after leading from the start.

The fans reacted with uproar while Schumacher, embarrassed, hauled Barrichello to the top of the podium in a breach of etiquette that drew a $1 million fine for the team from the governing International Automobile Federation.

Ferrari’s actions on Sunday, when Brazilian Felipe Massa allowed team mate Fernando Alonso to pass him for victory with 18 laps to go, came in different circumstances, but served as another reminder that such instructions have never gone away.

Formula 1 is, after all, a team sport.

“There will come a point in the season where you’ve got to prioritize one driver, because he’s got the best chance of winning the championship,” said Lotus technical head Mike Gascoyne, who has worked with Tyrrell, Renault, Toyota and Force India. “The bottom line is — if you are going to do it, just do it far more cleverly than that.”

They would doubtless have got a one-two anyway, but the fans were deprived of a battle between the drivers.

Plenty of drivers have allowed teammates with a better chance of the title to go past, sometimes sacrificing wins to do so, but there are still eight races to go after Germany and Massa was not out of the reckoning.

It would have been an emotional win for him, coming exactly a year after he cheated death in a frightening accident at the Hungarian GP.

While there was no denying that Alonso was faster, most neutral fans would probably rather have seen him fight for position than be gifted 25 points.

But, despite sending Massa a radio message alerting him to the fact that Alonso was quicker and then thanking him for his actions, Ferrari did not explicitly order him to move aside, even if that was the understanding.

Former team boss Eddie Jordan, who enjoyed a one-two with Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher at Spa in 1998, said he had frequently issued orders in the old days and had no doubt about what he had seen at Hockenheim.

“For me this was wrong,” he said.


Reuters