Ferrari escape further penalties

[maranellored]

Quote:Ferrari will face a World Motor Sport Council disciplinary hearing four days before next month's Italian Grand Prix.

The team were fined $100,000 following the German Grand Prix having appeared to give Felipe Massa a coded order to allow Fernando Alonso through to win.

The sport's governing body, the FIA, says the hearing will take place in Paris on Wednesday 8 September.

The team face the added possibility of a points deduction or exclusion from the championship.

Ferrari have been charged with breaking two sections of the F1 rules after Massa's move on lap 49 of the 67-lap race at Hockenheim.

One is article 39.1 of the sporting regulations, which states that "team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited".

The other is article 151.c of the sporting code, which says "any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition, or to the interests of motorsport generally" can be punished.

The fine that they were given in Germany is the maximum the stewards were allowed to impose and the matter was subsequently referred to the sport's governing body.


Massa said it had been his decision to let Alonso through
Massa, who trailed his team-mate by 31 points prior to the race, was told by his Ferrari race engineer, Rob Smedley, over team radio: "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand?" - to which he responded by letting Alonso through on Turn Six moments later.

Following the move, Smedley added: "Good lad. Just stick with it now, sorry."

Team orders are banned in Formula 1 and the move has provoked widespread anger within the sport.

Both drivers and team boss Stefano Domenicali had all declared their innocence prior to the stewards' verdict.

But following a judgment that stunned the team, Domenicali then expressed confidence "that the World Council will know how to evaluate the overall facts correctly."

Back in 2002 at the Austrian Grand Prix, then Ferrari boss Jean Todt ordered Rubens Barrichello to pull to one side and allow Michael Schumacher to take the chequered flag.

However, Todt, who is now the FIA president, will not be in the chair for the meeting with the deputy president Nick Craw taking the position.

BBCF1


Oh shit, that's Fernando done for then..............

[Chrissie]

Oh yay, the hearing is on the Wednesday before Monza - how fantastic

[icegirljenni]

All the best for them

[ali786]

http://www.cope.es/deportes/05-09-10--fe...l-214996-1

google translated

MORE NEWS FROM Sports
F1 | MISSING FOR THREE DAYS TRIAL TEAM ORDERS

Fernando Alonso will not attend the World Council
Carlos Gracia, President of the Royal Spanish Automobile Federation confirmed the news at COPE GP on Thursday ahead of COPE : "I understand that does not have to spend anything on Wednesday . "


Until next Wednesday will many hypotheses, but is not expected to reverse the decision against the Ferrari World . Carlos Gracia, Chairman of the RFDEA (Royal Spanish Automobile Federation ) was one of the protagonists and COPEGP confirmed the news on Thursday ahead of this station. The Spaniard is not charged, or have to testify before the FIA :Fernando Alonso will not be in the World Council. Only he has been warned from the Council to be located if at some point want to make it a query, but I hope and desire that”.


Grace gives his prognosis staff for Wednesday , favorable to the interests of the Spaniard "I understand that does not have to spend anything. That's my personal view , but clearly belong to the FIA and the World Council and will abide by the decision of the majority of the Council. These are the rules of democracy , but will not share any decision detrimental to the pilots”.


Grace also believes that the rule be deleted outlaws team orders, Though he is in favor of punishing only a portion of these orders: "We must qualify what are the team orders. Those who harm others must be seriously punished. But another thing is the order among members of a team. Without a driver goes faster than another and also has options for the title is clear. Everyone must play their role . It is seen in other fields of motorsport and nothing happens . They played the game and that should change the standard are the teams of FOTA , which should meet and decide on their return. They should change it because in the end what remains is that this article allows an extra source of income for the FIA”.

[alonso 4ever]

ah, that's really bad

good luck ferrari!!

[WiTcH]

The result of the hearing.

Quote:Ferrari has avoided further punishment for its actions at the 2010 German Grand Prix, after appearing in front of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris on Wednesday.

On lap 49 at Hockenheim, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa conceded the lead to team-mate Fernando Alonso after receiving a radio message from his engineer Rob Smedley saying: "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?"

After the race the team was fined $100,000 by the stewards for breaching Article 39.1 of the sporting code, which bans team orders, and Article 151c, which forbids teams bringing the sport into disrepute.

However, Reuters has reported that, on leaving the hearing, head of the Italian motorsport federation Angelo Sticchi Damiani confirmed Ferrari had escaped further sanctions

After the German Grand Prix team boss Stefano Domenicali, who was present in Paris for Wednesday's hearing, insisted the radio communications were purely informative and not instructive.

"We gave information to Felipe about what was the situation, because we have already seen in the past that certain situations could not give the best result to the team," he said after the race. "That was the information we wanted to give and we leave the drivers to understand and take notice of it in order to make sure the team, in terms of the global results, gets the best."

The governing body is understood to have ordered a review of the regulations, which is an indication that the team orders ban will be amended or scrapped altogether.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, as well as FIA president Jean Todt, were present for Wednesday's proceedings.

Ecclestone refused to comment beyond saying a press release will be issued shortly.

[Chrissie]

Now I can enjoy my race weekend

[WiTcH]

(09-08-2010 08:38 PM)Chrissie Wrote:   Now I can enjoy my race weekend

haha! Yes I guess you can. Have a great journey and enjoy the whole grand prix!! My best wishes to Fernando!!

[icegirljenni]

Glad to hear that

[ashyxt]

Fernando's good luck please return, & stay till the end!

[ali786]

Eddie Jordan bitching

http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/f...orld-title

[icegirljenni]

You know what Eddie? You should have include "Michael Shoelicker" name in your article, if he think this scandal tainted his name in winning wdc, then what about shoelicker? Make it clear bastard! Dont just simply pimp point with one driver and try to be in the lime light, if you want to comment, make a clear and details one, added all the others. What a pile of rubbish!

[alonso 4ever]

ahhhhhh... thank god :)

hope we all have a great weekend especially chrissie....

[icegirljenni]

FIA: Ferrari did use illegal team orders

Quote:"In the view of Ferrari, Mr Felipe Massa was not ordered to allow Mr Fernando Alonso to pass; rather he was given relevant information, based on which he decided, for the benefit of the team, to allow Mr Fernando Alonso to pass," said the statement.

"The relevant information was that Mr. Fernando Alonso was faster than him, and that Mr. Sebastian Vettel was closing the gap on both of them.

"Mr Felipe Massa realised that the best interests of the team and the drivers' safety were going to be served by allowing Mr Fernando Alonso to pass, and acted accordingly.

"In the view of Ferrari, there is a clear distinction between 'team orders' on the one hand, and 'team strategy and tactics' on the other hand. The dispute communication should be considered as 'team strategy and tactics.'"

The report also revealed that a few laps before the radio communication where Rob Smedley informed Massa that Alonso was faster than him, both drivers had been ordered to turn their engines down – before the Spaniard was allowed to turn his up again.

"Alonso increased his engine speed without Mr Felipe Massa's being informed," revealed the FIA document. "Mr Fernando Alonso was therefore benefiting from a definite performance advantage over Mr Felipe Massa in the moments preceding the contentious overtaking."

Click here to read the full verdict from the World Motor Sport Council.

[Tension_36th]

A politically motivated move, its obvious what is going on. They are trying to engineer a close title race, they know its better to have more title contenders for as long as possible before it goes down to a Redbull vs Redbull vs Mclaren driver. They should have atleast thrown out Ferrari's constructors points and kept the drivers points.

This year has been a cheap show because of FIA meddling whenever possible. We can be sure Webber wont be allowed to run away with the lead, FIA will do another penalty to help shamilton to get back into the title race if needed.

The good thing is Vettel has shown clam in the Monza GP to finish ahead of Webber focusing on his race alone. Webber is also a cool customer. The FIA will have to dig deep now to penalize Redbull in any form. But the only clown right now is shamilton at Mclaren and Button is waiting to take any chance possible to force Mclaren to support him over Shamilton.