Published>Mon, Jul 26 10 02:07 PM
London, July 26 (ANI): Motor sports most famous team Ferrari has been asked to cough up 100,000 US dollars for breaching FIA sporting regulations and the International Sporting Code during the German Grand Prix held over the weekend.
According to The Sun and The Guardian, Ferrari turned the result into a farce by illegally telling Felipe Massa to move over for Spain's Fernando Alonso, who eventually claimed the title.
Massa's English-born race engineer Rob Smedley apologised for giving the coded call to the Brazilian.
The Sun quoted former F1 team chief Eddie Jordan as saying: "It was unlawful and was theft. They stole from us the chance of having a wheel-to-wheel contest between the drivers. Ferrari should be ashamed. This was a team order. For me it is cheating and these two cars should be excluded. There is no upside to this."
Ferrari has also been hit with the more serious charge of bringing the sport into disrepute. They have been ordered to appear before the World Motor Sport Council.
The WMSC has the power to kick a team out of the sport, the World Championship or amend a race result.
Ferrari could also be suspended or slapped with an even bigger fine.
Alonso trailed Massa for much of the race and appeared increasingly frustrated by his Ferrari counterpart's slow pace. At one point he complained to his pit crew over the in-car radio, saying: "This is ridiculous!"
It prompted intense discussions on the Ferrari pit wall, only for Massa to respond with a sequence of hot laps. But then, approaching the halfway point Alonso again began to reel in Massa and, after 44 laps, the gap between the pair was 0.8sec.
On the anniversary of the crash in Hungary a year ago that came close to costing him his life, Massa was then forced to settle for second best at Hockenheim when he eventually gave way to Alonso.
On lap 47 Massa received a message from the Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley who said: "OK, so, Fernando is faster than you."
The inference of a team order, as Alonso was 31 points clear going into this race and in with a greater shot of the championship, was apparent though it has been denied by Ferrari.
Two laps later Alonso finally made his move, getting close enough to a very slow Massa coming out of the hairpin to then pass his team-mate down the short straight that immediately followed. Smedley then radioed in again to Massa to say: "Good lad. Sorry."
After the race, however, Ferrari claimed that it had been Massa's decision to let Alonso pass. But after the Spaniard won by 4.1sec, Massa gave him the cold shoulder in the parc ferme as Alonso attempted to embrace him before the pair eventually hugged on the podium.
Asked about Alonso's pass later, Massa replied: "I don't need to say anything about that. He passed me."
The victory helped Alonso to a 23rd career win, and was his second this year, putting the double world champion firmly back in the title hunt as he now trails - by 34 points - the championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who is 14 ahead of Jenson Button. (ANI)
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