Briatore Hits at Ferrari Strategy for Alonso Failure

Once it was clear that Ferrari's pit stop strategy regarding Fernando Alonso during the season finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix cost the Spaniard a potential 3rd world title, everybody started pointing fingers. At the Ferrari strategists, of course. And Alonso's former manager and father-figure Flavio Briatore makes no exception, saying that Ferrari focused too much on Mark Webber's pit strategy rather than Alonso's.

The Australian driver from Red Bull experienced some early problems with one of his wheels and had to make an unscheduled pit stop, after which Ferrari feared he would make up the necessary time to pass Alonso along the way. Consequently, the Scuderia called their title contender to the pits and, from that point on, all is history.

“For Fernando it should have been a completely different race,” said Briatore in a recent interview with Italy's La Repubblica newspaper. “They should not have even thought about Mark Webber, because Fernando was fast.”

“Maybe they misinterpreted when Webber hit the wall. Mark didn't do it (pit) as a tactic, but because he had hit the wall with his wheel.”

Nevertheless, even with this strategic mistake, Ferrari's Alonso could have still won the world title had he passed Renault's Vitaly Petrov early on. However, the Spaniard remained stuck behind the Russian throughout the remainder of the race, something that Briatore considers a scandalous situation not for Ferrari, but for the Abu Dhabi organizers.

“It is a scandal that a crucial race track does not allow a single pass,” he said, echoing the voices of several drivers who said the same thing over last weekend. “Monaco is fair enough, but Abu Dhabi is in the middle of a desert where they could easily build the right straights and curves. I'm sorry for Fernando. He is a phenomenal driver who drove a brilliant season.”