Ferrari Would Contest Negative FIA Verdict in Civil Court

After they were handed a $100,000 fine from the FIA stewards in the German Grand Prix – for alleged team orders – Ferrari did not contest the penalty. The gesture was obviously interpreted afterwards as a sign of admittance to the error in tactics made during that race by the Ferrari heads.

However, should a sporting penalty be applied to Ferrari by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) on September 8 – when they have been summoned to appear before the FIA body – the Scuderia will likely turn to a civil court for contestation. This is what the highly authoritative Gazzetta dello Sport reported last weekend, along with the strategy to be used by Ferrari during the Sept. 8 meeting.

According to the Italian source, Ferrari will argue that the message sent by Rob Medley (Felipe Massa's race engineer) to the his driver - “Fernando is faster than you! Can you confirm if you received the message?” - was purely informative and was meant as an explanation to what was happening in the race at the time.

More, Ferrari will allegedly push for the team orders ban to be scrapped from the Formula One rulebook, betting on the fact that several other teams have expressed the same idea in recent weeks. However, in order to do that, the FIA would have to secure the go-ahead from all 13 F1 teams, with no exception.

So far, Ferrari have held back from issuing any comments regarding the WMSC meeting in Paris. While several figures have already started speculating on a potential piggyback penalty for the Scuderia – including former FIA president Max Mosley – the Italians are keeping their cool.

“In this sort of situation, the best policy is to respect and to trust in the highest level of the sport's governing body,” said Ferrari.