Until the video edit, the entire Ferrari team order discussion was centered around the radio conversation between Felipe Massa and his race engineer Rob Smedley, in which the latter tells the Brazilian: “Fernando - is - faster - than - you -- can you confirm you understood that message.”
Well, that would have been OK with the spectators and the people watching the race at home had the conversation not been followed (at only a few seconds) by Massa handing over the lead to his teammate Fernando Alonso on a silver plate. At the end of the race, Smedley was heard apologizing to Massa and telling him that he has been “very, very magnanimous” about the whole thing.
Apparently, the “Fernando is faster than you” message has been pronounced several times by Smedley during the Hockenheim race (not with the exact same words, obviously), leading to the belief that it was actually a code within the Ferrari team.
“You need to pick up the pace, because Fernando is faster,” was another advice given by Smedley to Massa during the Sunday action.
Earlier in the race, when Alonso and Massa were genuinely battling for the first position, the Spaniard told his team via radio that “this is ridiculous” and that “I am much faster than Felipe,” after which his race engineer confirmed “we got your message.” A few seconds after, Smedley turned to Massa for a radio conversation, telling the Brazilian: “Pretty close here, he's (Alonso) gonna go (through) – you're going to have to defend.”
Again, the new radio messages were revealed by the F1's video edit of the German race, and will likely be confronted with the Scuderia's defense during the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) meeting on September 8.
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