Hockenheim and F1

[carl_allery]

So, big furore out of today's German GP at Hockenheim, and under cut because totally spoilerish on the results. Figured I'd add my two penn'orth after watching the race.

Comments

[lil_shepherd]

Well, the fine is derisory to Ferrari (though it would have desperately hurt some of the smaller, newer teams) and the result stands, but the Stewards have reported them to the FIA. Now, in the past, the FIA would likely have done nothing, but the appointment of Todt means that he cannot be seen to be favouring his old team.

I don't think Alonzo is going to get any favours from anyone over the next few months.

[carl_allery]

Okay, just catching up now with the news on the fine. Very interesting. I'm really not sure how Ferrari could expect anyone to believe that those weren't team orders. Obviously they were trying to obey the letter and not the spirit of the law and came a cropper! The 'bringing the sport into disrepute' tag-line is a doozy.

LOL, and if Ferrari can't be seen to be favouring Alonzo, they're either going to have to sabotage Massa's performance or let Massa run his own race. If the FIA are watching them, then they may have to give Massa his head and the end result will be to poke Alonzo right in his sense of entitlement!

Have to say the bbc coverage was pretty hilarious with both Vettel and Horner from Red Bull just wandering in to add their opinions. Given the flak that Red Bull had over favouring their leading driver pre-race on car parts, but letting them run their own race so that despite his advantage, Vettel couldn't make it pay, I think Horner deserves a decent poke at the hornet's nest. *g*

[lil_shepherd]

And there was Schumy sounding as calm and judicious as hell, putting, as Eddie pointed out, the drivers' viewpoint, just as Coulthard had earlier. But what everyone agreed was that no-one in their right mind would swallow that Ferrari story. I can't help wondering if Massa's race engineer, passing the bad news to his driver, gave what was plainly a code (he's faster than you) and then deliberately messed it up by apologising to his driver.

I think Horner's comments were hilarious, given the circumstances.

[carl_allery]

I'd have to say that given both the intonation and pacing of the actual words, that it was a code that Massa had been warned might be employed, but which his race team had protested against and probably told him they would object to, if it were actually used. Thus, while giving the code, I suspect his engineer felt he had to apologise because he hadn't been able to stop it, but yes, I'm sure there was an element of, if you're going to insist on your driver doing something which is against FIA regulations, I'm going to make sure the world knows he was screwed over by the team

[khiemtran]

For me, I'd be happy to call it a team sport and let the teams do what they want. You wouldn't complain about a football player passing to a teammate instead of scoring, even if it did throw off the betting for the Golden Boot... If you have to rely on battles between drivers with the same car for interest, something much deeper is wrong with the sport.