Ferrari were let off the hook at the World Motor Sports Council hearing in Paris on Wednesday. This means that the German Grand Prix result where Fernando Alonso took the win after Felipe Massa was ‘asked’ to move over will stand. Possibly it was also thought that the 100,000 USD fine on Ferrari was enough for the fast-one they pulled on fans watching the world over. What’s more, the FIA will now be rethinking the ban on team orders, in effect will probably re-write the rule.
If we think about incidents from this year alone, there have been other teams who have done the same. Sebastian Vettel got the new front wing at Silverstone ahead of Mark Webber and at Turkey before that Jenson Button was told to save fuel when he was trailing Lewis Hamilton in second position. The absurd part therefore is not that Ferrari did use team orders to get their lead driver some advantage. Instead it is that this season is probably shaping up for a grand stand finish with five drivers and three teams having a mathematical chance of being crowned champions. And with only six races to go, it might just get dirty if a couple of races do not go as per plans for any of these five drivers.
In letting Ferrari go and declaring that they are re-thinking the ban on this team-order rule, they have sent out the message that if something like the German GP is repeated blatantly – and what Ferrari did was blatant enough – then there won’t be many consequences. A precedent has been set unfortunately and in any court hearing such as the WMSC one in Paris yesterday, anybody in the dock can use it and get away with murder on track. It is not to say that there should be team orders. I think that teams should have the freedom to do what they want for they invest millions and millions more are at stake along with reputations. But they – team orders – should come with a rider, like naming a number one or number two driver before the season or each race, or probably should only be implemented when one driver has no mathematical chance of winning the championship. However this debate is for later when we do know what re-thinking the FIA have done regarding this issue.
For now, the point is, do we really want a season building up to be as close as this, to be affected by team orders now that even FIA doesn’t deal with them too harshly?
