FIA Admit Ferrari Team Orders in Germany

The FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) fully explained its position in the Ferrari team orders saga, one day after it decided not to hand any further penalties to the Italian team. Following the allegations that Felipe Massa was ordered to let his teammate Fernando Alonso pass him during the German Grand Prix, the WMSC confirmed the initial penalty will stand – accounting for $100,000 – along with the costs of the FIA's legal procedures.

Interestingly enough though, the FIA admitted that Ferrari did in fact issued a team order to their drivers during the race at Hockenheim.

According to the FIA, Ferrari's defense during the WMSC meeting on Wednesday, in Paris, was based on the fact that they did not issue any team orders to Massa, put only informed him that his teammate was faster than him at a certain point.

“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 WMSC 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.”

However, the FIA believes the Scuderia did actually issue a team order in Germany, arguing “it is undeniable that the race result would have been different had the contentious instruction not been issued to Mr Felipe Massa.” Than why no punishment!?

As continued by the ruling body “there were many examples of what could have been said to be team orders in Formula 1 in recent years, and therefore there has been inconsistency in its application.”

“During the 2008 German Grand Prix, Mr. Heikki Kovalainen allowed Mr. Lewis Hamilton to pass him with only 9 laps to go at exactly the same turn as Mr. Felipe Massa decided to allow Mr. Fernando Alonso to pass, which enabled Mr. Lewis Hamilton to catch and overtake Mr. Felipe Massa and Mr. Nelson Piquet Jr. so as to win the race.”

“In the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix, the McLaren drivers Mr. Lewis Hamilton and Mr. Jenson Button took over in 1st and 2nd place respectively. The published radio communications with Mr. Lewis Hamilton and Mr. Jenson Button can be seen as a case of so called “team orders”. The message to “save fuel”could be said to have been a coded instruction to the drivers to preserve their existing positions.”