Fernando Alonso took his second victory of the season despite the Ferrari team instructing Felipe Massa to let the Spaniard by during the German Grand Prix.
Even though team orders have been banned in Formula One following deliberate ‘race fixing’ by the Scuderia in the past (case in point: Austria 2002), it is ironic that the Italian-based squad adopted this route to secure a one-two result.
As for Sebastian Vettel, who started his home race in pole position, the Red Bull driver was unable to recover from a poor start and had to settle with third at the flag.
The McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished in fourth and fifth respectively while Red Bull’s Mark Webber took sixth.
At the start, Felipe Massa made a superb getaway from third on the grid to lead into Nordkurve. For Sebastian Vettel, he focused too much on preventing Fernando Alonso to get by and that mistake allowed Massa to sweep around the outside and into first place.
The trio ran in close company initially, before the red cars started dropping the Red Bull following the pit stops.
Alonso immediately seemed quicker on the harder compound Bridgestone, closing right onto his team-mate’s gearbox and drawing alongside on the back straight as they lapped Bruno Senna and Timo Glock on lap 20.
But then Massa lifted his pace and started pulling away, setting several new fastest laps and opening up a 3.4-second lead.
This did not last though as the double world champion responded by setting some fastest laps of his own thereby reducing the gap back down to under a second. On lap 47, Massa’s race engineer Rob Smedley told his driver that “Fernando is faster than you” and asked him to confirm he ‘understood’. A lap later, Massa lifted off after the hairpin and Alonso accelerated past on the straight to take the lead, denying a Massa victory on the first anniversary of the horrific Hungaroring crash that ended his 2009 season.
Vettel occasionally trimmed the Scuderia’s advantage during the German Grand Prix and a late push got the Red Bull driver onto Massa’s tail, but he was unable to overtake.
Despite the straight-line speed advantage, the McLarens were never fast enough to fight for the podium and finish only in fourth and fifth. Nevertheless, the drivers still head the championship standings.
For Mark Webber, the Australian had to nurse his Renault-powered Red Bull amid worryingly high oil consumption.
A lap down, Renault’s Robert Kubica beat the Silver Arrows to seventh, with Nico Rosberg getting ahead of Michael Schumacher during the pit sequence after a good start from the elder German had earlier swapped their positions.
Renault got both cars in the points as Vitaly Petrov took tenth, while both Williams lost ground on the opening lap and could not recover into the points, despite Nico Hulkenberg waiting until lap 34 before pitting.
Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa also tried a bold strategy, running 51 laps on the hard set of Bridgestone before changing to the soft tyre, but his plan for a late charge backfired when he hit Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus, breaking the front wing and taking the Finn out of the best of division two of Formula One, who had been running ahead of Timo Glock’s Virgin Racing up to then.
Other teams in trouble were Toro Rosso and Force India, who both saw both their cars damaged in first-lap incidents – in Toro Rosso’s case after Jaime Alguersuari crashed into the back of Sebastien Buemi at the hairpin.
Yet again controversy played a part in Formula One with Ferrari issuing team orders to let Alonso through. The sport’s reputation is put on the line once again and we shall see if the race stewards will exclude the red cars from the result following this action.
Following hours after the chequered flag, the race stewards have fined Ferrari $100,000 and for bringing the sport into disrepute. The results from Hockenheim will stand. See the comments for the latest updates.
Race results from Hockenheim, 67 laps:
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h28:38.866
2. Massa Ferrari +4.196
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault +5.121
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +26.896
5. Button McLaren-Mercedes +29.482
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault +43.606
7. Kubica Renault +1 lap
8. Rosberg Mercedes +1 lap
9. Schumacher Mercedes +1 lap
10. Petrov Renault +1 lap
11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
14. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes +2 laps
17. Sutil Force India-Mercedes +2 laps
18. Glock Virgin-Cosworth +3 laps
19. Senna HRT-Cosworth +4 laps
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:15.824
Not classified/retirements:
Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 58 laps
Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 51 laps
Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 20 laps
Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 4 laps
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2 laps
World Championship standings, round 11:
Drivers:
1. Hamilton 157
2. Button 143
3. Vettel 136
4. Webber 136
5. Alonso 123
6. Rosberg 94
7. Kubica 89
8. Massa 85
9. Schumacher 38
10. Sutil 35
11. Barrichello 29
12. Kobayashi 15
13. Liuzzi 12
14. Petrov 7
15. Buemi 7
16. Alguersuari 3
17. Hulkenberg 2
Constructors:
1. McLaren-Mercedes 300
2. Red Bull-Renault 272
3. Ferrari 208
4. Mercedes 132
5. Renault 96
6. Force India-Mercedes 47
7. Williams-Cosworth 31
8. Sauber-Ferrari 15
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 10
Next race: Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring. July 30 – August 1.
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner described Ferrari’s exchange of positions in the German Grand Prix as ‘the clearest team order’ he had seen, after his driver Sebastian Vettel finished third behind Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa at Hockenheim.
Massa led the majority of the German Grand Prix, before lifting off and allowing Alonso to pass him with 17 laps to go. Shortly beforehand, he had received a radio message from his engineer Rob Smedley informing him that Alonso was ‘faster’. Smedley later added “good lad” and “sorry” after Massa had fallen to second.
Horner said there was no doubt in his mind that it was a team order, comparing it to Rubens Barrichello allowing Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher to pass him to win the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix – the incident that prompted the ban on such tactics.
“I have to say, that was probably the clearest team order I’ve ever seen, especially when you’ve got the team apologising to a driver,” Horner told the BBC.
“It will be interesting to see what the stewards make of it, because it was as clear as 2002, which was why the regulation was brought in.”
He added: “The regulations are pretty clear that team orders aren’t allowed and it looked like a team order.”
Horner was adamant that Red Bull would not have acted in the same manner.
“No, we let our drivers race,” he said. “Massa’s still in this championship, or maybe he’s signed a contract that says he’s a number two driver, but I think that it’s wrong for the sport.
“The drivers should’ve been allowed to race. Massa did the better job. He was in the lead.”
Source: Autosport.com
Even though he led the race from lap one, Felipe Massa was denied a race victory following team orders to let Fernando Alonso by. Autosport.com has the story.
Felipe Massa said he felt he deserved to win the German Grand Prix, having let team-mate Fernando Alonso take the lead after having led from the start.
Massa finished in second position after giving up the lead when Ferrari told him on the radio that Alonso was quicker than him.
“Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?” Massa’s race engineer Rob Smedley told the Brazilian on the radio.
Moments later, Massa slowed down and let Alonso through, the Spaniard having said earlier on the radio that “This is ridiculous” as he followed Massa closely but was unable to pass.
A less-than-happy-looking Massa said he felt he deserved victory.
“Well, I think so,” said Massa when asked if he felt he deserved the win. “The start was just fantastic and also the pace on the soft tyres was really great and then I was struggling a little bit on the hard tyres but anyway a very good race for us.”
When asked about Smedley’s radio comment, Massa added: “Well, I don’t think I need to say anything about that.”
He added: “The only thing I feel is that we work for the team and doing a great job for the team and that is the most important thing.”
Massa is currently 72 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton, with Alonso now 34 behind the Briton.
Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel started on pole position for his home race but after 67 laps around Hockenheim, he finished in third. Read the Autosport.com story for the full details below:
Sebastian Vettel said he was surprised to lose out to the Ferraris at the start of the German Grand Prix as he had been confident he could get off the line quicker than the Italian cars.
Poleman Vettel slipped from first to third behind Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso by the first corner and was unable to recover the lost positions later on.
“Usually we have very good starts,” he said. “Yesterday I was told Ferrari had good starts but up until today we had better ones.
“I had quite a lot of grip, dropped the clutch and had a bit of a bolt, the first few metres were very poor. Luckily I didn’t stall the engine so lost momentum.
“I knew it would be tight with Fernando and no way to stay ahead of him and then I was surprised to see Felipe come from the left.”
After that Vettel felt his Red Bull did not have the pace to quite match the Ferraris, and said even when he did get close, he was hampered by dirty air.
“It was a good race and we knew it would be tight,” he said. “The closer you get you feel the tyres losing grip, and starting to have a bit of graining.
“For the majority of the race the Ferraris were a tenth or two quicker than us. It was difficult to keep up the pace.
“The race is done, we finished third so we can be proud of that. We achieved our maximum today, Congratulations to Ferrari and I’m very pleased to be on the podium, it’s special to be there at a home grand prix. To be here and see everyone cheering is very nice, very emotional.”
UPDATE (from Autosport.com): Ferrari team bosses have been summoned to see the German Grand Prix stewards following the team orders controversy at Hockenheim.
Fernando Alonso won the race from team-mate Felipe Massa, but only after the Brazilian let him pass following a conversation on the radio, Massa having led the race from the start.
Massa was told by his race engineer Rob Smedley: “Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?”
Moments later Massa slowed down and let Alonso take the lead.
After the race, the FIA stewards summoned Ferrari’s team manager and team principal.
Team orders are banned in the sport.
F1 Fanatic has posted an article on this controversy:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2010/07/25/massa-instructed-to-hand-win-to-alonso-poll/
Plus a race report:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2010/07/25/controversy-as-alonso-wins-manipulated-race-german-grand-prix-review/
Fernando Alonso shrugged off the controversy over team orders at the German Grand Prix, saying both him and Felipe Massa work for Ferrari.
The Spaniard won the race but only after Massa let him take the lead following a radio conversation with his engineer, who then apologised to his driver.
Alonso had been frustrated by Massa’s driving earlier on, having said “this is ridiculous” when he appeared to be quicker than the Brazilian.
The Spanish driver dodged questions during the post-race press conference, saying both drivers have to do what the team says.
“We tried to do our race, we tried to do as good as we can,” said Alonso, who scored his second win of the year. “We are professional drivers and we try to work as a team and we try to do the best we can every day.
“Not only here on the track but in the race and factory, preparing the races. Again I think we have been doing a good job in the last couple of races, finally we got a strong Sunday with a strong result. I think we are happy with this, all the other things it is more for you if you want to write all these things.”
He added: “We try to put a show always for the spectators. As Felipe said, we work for companies, we work for teams, sometimes we saw this year crashes between team-mates Today Ferrari has 42 points in its pockets. That is what we are here for.”
When asked if he felt embarrassed, he said: “Same. What is important is the team result.”
Massa said he felt he deserved victory, but claimed he was thinking about the team.
“For sure you always want to win, that is always what we race for,” he said. “For sure we don’t have team orders in the team. You just do the race you can and if you cannot do the race you can you have to think about the team.”
The Brazilian said he was not worried about his image following the controversy.
“For sure not. I am very professional and I show in my career how professional I am. You are professional as well, you work for your company, you are doing what you have to do, I am professional and today I showed how professional I am.”
Source: Autosport.com
The McLaren duo have admitted the team need to improve its performance in order to catch the Ferraris and Red Bulls. Autosport.com has the story:
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button say McLaren must improve quickly after being outperformed by Ferrari and Red Bull during the German Grand Prix weekend.
Championship leader Hamilton finished in fourth position, but over 26 seconds behind race winner Fernando Alonso, with Button three seconds behind in fifth.
Hamilton admitted there wasn’t more he could have done, and is aware that McLaren is not quick enough at the moment.
“I did everything I could at the start, because I knew that that was the place where I could really make up some ground,” said Hamilton.
“Unfortunately, the guys in front were phenomenally quick, but I still managed to make up a couple of places.
“It was a very tough race today – the car didn’t feel fantastic and the Ferraris and Red Bulls were very fast. We hoped the gap would be closer in the race than it was in qualifying, and it was – but, even so, we’ve got to make up some pace on our main rivals.
“We need to go back and figure out where we can improve, and pick it up again very quickly. Today, we did everything we could do – now we just have to work harder than ever to get ahead of the cars in front.”
Button echoed his team-mate’s thoughts about McLaren’s pace, feeling he has extracted the maximum from its car today.
“My start was pretty good, I got away fantastically well off the line – but we got to Turn One, and Sebastian [Vettel], who was fighting the Ferraris, braked pretty early, and I nearly went into the back of him,” said Button.
“I had to take avoiding action and go wide at Turn One – the thing is, I hit the brakes, and soon as you do that in Turn One, you lose a lot of time. So I lost three places, but thankfully I got one of those back pretty quickly.
“In the first stint, I looked after the tyres pretty well. I was at the back of the group, and it was a strategy that we’d planned before the race. After my stop, my pace relative to Lewis was very similar, and I settled in never less than two seconds behind him. But I couldn’t go any quicker because I was losing downforce to the car in front.
“Lewis and I showed today that we got the maximum out of the car – it’s just that the car isn’t quite quick enough at the moment.”
LATEST: The FIA has announced that its World Motor Sport Council is to consider whether Ferrari should face further sanctions for the team orders controversy at the German Grand Prix, after the team was fined $100,000 for its actions.
Fernando Alonso was handed victory at Hockenheim after his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa sacrificed the lead on lap 48 – soon after the team had told the Brazilian that he was slower than the car behind him.
Although Ferrari has insisted that it did not issue a team order, and merely provided Massa with information, the race stewards after the German GP had a different opinion.
After speaking to team principal Stefano Domenicali, team manager Massimo Rivola, plus Alonso and Massa to examine the events of the afternoon, the race stewards decided that the regulations had been broken.
In a statement issued on Sunday night, the FIA stated that a breach of Article 39.1, which bans team orders, and 151c, which relates to bringing the sport into disrepute, had been committed.
It said that the penalty would be: “Fine $100,000. The case will also be referred to the FIA World Motorsport Council for further consideration.”
Alonso said after the race that the drivers were both simply what is best for the team.
“We tried to do our race, we tried to do as good as we can,” said Alonso, who scored his second win of the year. “We are professional drivers and we try to work as a team and we try to do the best we can every day.”
Source: Autosport.com
Q&A with Stefano Domenicali: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85557
The Ferrari team has said it won’t appeal the race stewards decision following the $100,000 fine over maniuplating the race result between Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. Autosport.com has the details:
Ferrari has ruled out appealing against the $100,000 fine that it was handed for imposing illegal team orders at the German Grand Prix, and is confident that the FIA will act in the right way when it comes to look at the events of the day.
As well as the fine handed out by the FIA, its World Motor Sport Council has been asked to look into what happened at Hockenheim when Felipe Massa handed Fernando Alonso the lead of the race – shortly after he was told his team-mate was quicker than him.
Although Ferrari could have appealed the decision, it has decided against doing so.
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said: “As for the Stewards’ decision, given after the race, in the interests of the sport, we have decided not to go through a procedure of appealing against it, confident that the World Council will know how to evaluate the overall facts correctly.”
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh plans to hold private talks with Ferrari to let them know his views on the team orders controversy that rocked the German Grand Prix.
Ferrari was fined $100,000 and could face further sanctions from the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council for illegally using team orders to help Fernando Alonso take victory at Hockenheim on Sunday.
Although Ferrari is adamant that it did nothing wrong, the Maranello team’s actions have caused a wave of outrage from fans and the media worldwide.
And although Ferrari’s decision to hand Alonso the win in Germany has added a fresh dynamic to the world title fight, Whitmarsh said he did not wish to get drawn into a public slanging match.
“I don’t want to get drawn into it,” explained Whitmarsh. “I have my own private views on it. They were quicker than us today; they got a 1-2, but perhaps in a different order from that which people may have thought was right.
“I will give my private views to Ferrari, but I don’t want to go on record and express those views.”
And despite Ferrari showing itself so willing to throw its support behind one driver, Whitmarsh has promised his drivers that they will remain free to race.
“You can go back to the late 90s and all sorts of times when things have happened – but we decide to race. I think having our drivers racing, in the longer term, is a healthy thing to do for this team.
“That is my decision and that is what we want to do. Others do what they want to do, and it is for the FIA and Ferrari to determine what they think is right. We were racing our two guys until the end of the race.”
He added: “All I know is the same as you. I heard what I heard, I saw what I saw, but it is for others to comment on.
“Ferrari were quick and we did what we could – and they raced how they raced. That was not a new approach from Ferrari, was it?”
Source: Autosport.com
Mercedes GP CEO Nick Fry believes team orders has damaged the image of the sport. Read the story in full below as posted by Autosport.com.
Formula 1 teams should put the good of the sport above their own personal ambitions, and realise how damaging the use of ‘team orders’ can be to the image of grand prix racing.
That is the view of Mercedes GP CEO Nick Fry, who reckons that F1 faces such big challenges from other sporting and entertainment sectors that it cannot afford accusations that it is not a proper sport.
“I think the first thing is that we all have to obey the rules,” Fry told AUTOSPORT. “Whether you like it or not the stewards and the FIA have the final say. Putting that aside, I think the teams have an absolute responsibility for the show.
“The show is what generates the fans; the fans are what generates the sponsors, and the sponsors generate sponsorship which allows us to run the teams. So they are the customers at the end of the day, and we have got to put on a good show.
“Putting aside whether or not it was team orders, I do feel sorry for Felipe [Massa] especially after what happened last year which we were very sad about. He was putting in a great performance. It doesn’t seem fair regardless.”
Fry acknowledges there are huge commercial pressures on teams to succeed in F1, but believes that they should think more carefully about delivering what fans of the sport want.
“Personally I think the show is the most important thing,” he said. “I heard David Coulthard talk about the history and the fact there always were team orders, but I think times have changed.
“This is sport and the fans out there want to see the drivers fighting. While the teams think it is a teams’ championship, most of the fans – possibly with the exception of Ferrari – support the drivers who happen to drive for a team.
“I think we have to let them fight it out and only intervene if it is getting out of hand, and they are knocking each other off.”
Fry believes that ultimately a team has to decide what its core strategy is – and he says at his current outfit, through its BAR and Brawn GP identities, has been that of driver equality.
“I think you have got to start with basic philosophy, and the basic philosophy since I’ve been at this team is that we treat both drivers equally,” he said.
“When I first arrived with Jacques [Villeneuve] and Olivier [Panis] it was very difficult to do that because we were simply not well enough organised, and sometimes we had to give one driver something and not give it the other. But it was in the full knowledge of both and we tried to distribute fairly.
“That situation for us changed a long time ago and the only rule is don’t crash into each other. Apart from that, you have a responsibility to give them equal stuff and we would not countenance a contract that went against that.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says it is a “great shame” that Formula 1 fans were offered a “manipulated” race in Germany.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso won the Hockenheim race but only after his team talked to team-mate Felipe Massa on the radio and suggested he should let him through.
Moments later, Massa slowed down and Alonso took the lead.
Horner says the sport was the big loser and feels Ferrari had no reason to do what it did.
“It’s a great shame for Formula 1 that the race was manipulated to give one driver a victory over the other,” Horner told AUTOSPORT.
“We came in for a lot of criticism in Istanbul for allowing our drivers to race but I think that it’s the fair and sporting thing to do.
“The only losers today are Formula 1. Ferrari are a big enough team that they shouldn’t need to do that and Fernando is a good enough driver not to particularly at this point in the season when there are still hundreds of points available.”
Horner admitted he felt sorry for the fans who missed the opportunity to see Ferrari’s drivers racing each other.
“It’s a great shame. Ferrari are a great team,” he said. “It’s a shame for Formula 1 that they didn’t allow Felipe and Fernando to race each other. There are not so many points between them and it was so obvious how they moved the cars around.
“The biggest losers are the fans, the spectators, the viewers as a race win was handed to Fernando. Rightly or wrongly, we’ve allowed our drivers to race because we believe that’s the sporting thing to do and it also is within the regulations.
“The regulation was introduced for a reason, to stop exactly this situation happening. The FIA has all of the facts and it was done in such an obvious way and it would be a great shame if it’s left unpunished because it sets a precedent that is wrong for F1,” added Horner, speaking before Ferrari was fined $100,000 and referred to the WMSC.
Source: Autosport.com
In addition BBC Formula One reporter Andrew Benson on his views on the team orders controversy:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/07/team_orders_rule_ties_f1_in_kn.html
Every single other team can sod right off their high horse. All this crap about “Oh we let our drivers race” and “we think it’s a disgrace”. F*** off will you!!! Utter BS and they know it. What about giving a front wing to a certain driver? Not breaking the rules or close to team orders, but it IS favouritism off the track, and this does in some kind of way lead to favouritism on the track and NO-ONE is immune to giving orders of some description.
Do I think it’s a stupid rule? Hell yeah.
Massa has no chance of beating Alonso this year, so Alonso (in the teams eyes) is perfectly okay to be favoured at this point. Any team will do this and any pairing of drivers must except this, when it is reasonably clear that one diver is far enough in front to be given priority. Like DC said in the post race show, back in the day, when there was a leading driver, the second driver would get OUT OF HIS CAR and give it to him so that the winning driver could continue the race! Now when a team decides when to deem one driver as “No.2” is up for argument. But also each should have a contract that says until that decision is made with reasonable cause, then they must be treated equally.
What’s also complete BS, is how now, all of sudden, the very people that made the rule are now saying how crap it is! WTF!?! Look, no-one should care that one driver gives way to his team-mate. This is sport for the TEAMS. It’s their job to maximise the chances for one of their drivers to lift the crown at the end of the season. Only one driver can do that, so why is it so bad to let the one with the best chance of doing that, have the best chance to take more points? I will say that this is only okay when the two drivers are following each other, that’s fair enough. Having a leader give way to the other who is miles behind is pushing it a bit though LOL.
The other thing that gets my wick is this. Since the all imposing FIA controls all, including WRC, why oh why are team orders, (therein, orders that effect the outcome of the race are banned), but don’t include stopping or slowing on the course to get a slower time so as to not go 1st for the next stage ergo, EFFECTING THE RESULT!! Whaaaaa?!
But as always, at least stupid rules are being brought to the limelight, and recently have been addressed. We now have ex-F1 drivers on the stewards team, and soon we’ll have one chance qualifying with the 107% rules or whatever. Or re-fueling banned cos it didn’t do what it was supposed to do.
As for the $100,000 fine. Hmmmm, well some say fair, and in the grand scheme of things I suppose it is. Ferrari did in fact alter the race winner on purpose. Oh and by the way Ferrari, it was sooooo blatantly obvious, it would have been better to ask everyone to close their eyes for a moment while you switch race positions!! Since it’s impossible to argue otherwise, they of course are not going to object to the ruling. I do think they are glad that it has come to this, and that many now are no doubt looking for a new ruling to make for next season.
For the last few weeks I was concerned for Stefano Domenicali’s job given the teams performance and saying this would not have helped would have been a slight understatement. But it appears he has the full backing of the companies highest ranking members, This is not doubt in part to the weird combination of appreciation of the fine, and that it’s a stupid rule in the first place.
If that’s not admission that some kind of team orders go on much of the time and that they’d love to Ive those orders legally, I don’t what is.