Although Ferrari's Luca di Montezemolo asked everybody to get rid of their hypocrisy and understand that this is a team's sport, the first figure to point the finger at the team was its very former world champion Niki Lauda. The man whom Ferrari helped become double champion back in the 1970s was merciless at its nowadays tactics.
“With the budgets these teams have, $100,000 is nothing at all. If you imagine they have bought themselves a world championship for that, it's the biggest joke of all,” said Lauda in an interview with RTL, asking the International Automobile Federation (FIA) to heavily penalize the Italian team as a result of their tactics in Germany.
What's interesting though is the fact that everyone agrees that the team orders ban should be scrapped from the FIA rulebook for the years to come – as it cannot be policed and controlled properly, not to mention proving it – yet everyone asks for a drastic penalty for Ferrari.
Spanish motor racing chief Carlos Gracia – a man expected by many to take Ferrari's side in this affair, given Fernando Alonso's implication in it – was one of the few to argue that the Italian team cannot face further penalties for the German GP events, as they have already been handed a $100,000 fine from the FIA stewards after the Hockenheim race.
“Nothing will happen (at the World Motor Sport Council). The violation has already been sanctioned, Ferrari declined to appeal, so it's an issue that has been settled. You can't be punished twice for one wrongdoing,” said Gracia in an interview with AS newspaper, while also insisted he will lobby for the scrap of the team orders ban from the sport at the next WMSC meeting.
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