Ferrari drivers to attend WMSC

This just got real.

Will they lie (again)? If they do the punishment for them could be draconian. I would expect a ban from FIA events for a period of time, not sure how long.

This should be interesting. Where do we get the live feed
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I wonder if Teflonso will get immunity (again) and throw the team under the bus...

 

This thread is nicely shaping out to become the #1 lovefest of all the Ferrari and/or Alonso haters. Nice.

As for movie titles, I think this one will better fit the situation once the dust settles:
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This forum is often the receptacle for Ferrari drivers hatred, I find.

Before it was against Kimi Raikkonen, then the barracking was directed towards Felipe Massa.
Now it's Alonso who comes under fire.

Maybe Ferrari should dispense with the drivers and have the cars remotely controled from the pits to please the eternal whinners on this forum?

 

I don't believe the drivers have anything to fear - this is about team orders, not driver behaviour. The drivers are only doing what they were told to do, so there should not be any penalty for them. As for the team... well, keep your fingers crossed and pray for good fortune because I wouldn't be surprised if they got the book thrown at them. Either way, I hope the result doesn't wreck the WDC (not likely given the current points situation anyway), but is seen to be fair and reasonable.

 

I think that what they did at the German GP and why they have been called before the WMSC.

 

Lol

Years ago there was a commercial on US TV with JPM and Ralf racing their Williams by RC from the stands

 

It is ravishing entertainment!

Both drivers are innocent. The decision wasn't Alonso's but much higher up. Punish the team if you must but not the drivers

 

Exactly, this whole WSMC is a waste of time, again Ferrari did absolutely the right thing.

 

They broke the rules, rather obvious. They did not do the right thing. They deserve the punishment.

If this were McLaren, or any other team, I would guess most here would be inclined to want to see them punished. So the same rules should apply to all.

If anything, they deserve the punishment for being so blatently obvious with the move.


If you scroll down on the SpeedTV site, you can read comments. Most are absolutely anti-Alonso. I can understand why even here on FChat, I have read more anti-Ferrari comments than ever before. Alonso, whose supposed skill at the wheel does not always manifest itself at the track, has earned the title of Motorsports Jerk Of The Year. I hope
that from all of this that Massa has learned that driving for Ferrari is not the driver epiphany that it used to be. He should consider driving for a consistent winning team, not one with a tarnished image that hires questionables as his teammate. Karma at work perhaps.

 

Agreed on that part. Next time the 4th tire won't be ready for Massa at the pitstop. Or there is a problem with the fuel flow or the air gun...

Better yet: The FIA abolishes this reality defying rule.

 

Mmmmm... Yet another post implying that it is totally fine to break the rules so long as you disguise it well enough! (like just about every other team does!). Great set of morals there!.

you say they didn't do the right thing, so what was the right thing to do then?.

Ferrari have assessed the season so far and have determined that their best chance of wining the WDC (which I believe is the aim of the sport), lies with Alonso, so they are making every effort possible to achieve this goal.

Had they not got Alonso ahead of Massa in the German GP and at the end of the season Alonso failed to win the WDC by a couple of points, then they would not look too clever. All of the forums and all of the commentators would be saying: "They should have let Alonso win in Germany, that's where they lost the Championship!".
Martin Brundle on the BBC said after the Hungarian GP that the result made Ferrari's move in Germany a smart one!.

As for :

I believe I have already seen McLaren instigate team orders at the Turkish GP by telling Button his fuel was critical in order to stop him attacking Hamilton for the lead despite the fact he had more fuel left than Hamilton. Having seen the two Red Bulls have a coming together and the two McLarens nearly do the same though, I have no problem if they did instigate a team order to protect the one/two finish, it makes perfect sense to Me from a team point of view.

+1 on this or, how about the FIA abolish all communication with the driver!. No radio, no pit boards!, that way the drivers have no idea where everybody else is, who's stopping when, what the weather is going to do,etc., it would just be driver and machine versus driver and machine.
This would mean that the drivers would not be able to relax at certain points in the race, they would have to push every single lap.
There would be no problem with team orders as there would be no way of telling the driver what's going on. It would also implement a good money saving at the same time as less equipment and staff would be required at each race.
I would also get rid of the two way telemetry and communications with the car, that way the teams couldn't make adjustments to the cars remotely anymore, the drivers would have to look after the cars themselves more, in order to finish races.




Slightly off topic (for which I apologize but):

One of the biggest problems I have with the F1 section on this site is that there are so called Ferrari fans on here who cannot understand that Ferrari makes these decisions in the interest of success for the Team.

These so called fans don't even recognize or appreciate that Ferrari are incredibly open and honest about how they go about achieving their success, more so than just about any other team on the grid. The ideology of how they go racing is no secret and it made them the most successful Team in the last decade. I don't recall hearing too many Ferrari fans moaning about the success it brought during the Schumacher era (plenty from the other teams fans though, but that was because they were losing. Had it been their team, they wouldn't have said a word!).


I also must say that it's quite disheartening to come onto a supposedly pro-Ferrari site and have to read so many anti-Ferrari posts where people start demanding/wanting Ferrari to be disqualified from the German GP, be disqualified from the 2010 F1 season, be banned from the 2011 season, be given a massive fine etc.,etc.

Where were the calls from these people for McLaren to be banned/fined massively for cheating during qualifying for the Canadian GP when they deliberately under-fueled Hamilton's car in order to get pole position?. To Me this was at least the equivalent of what happened in Germany, if not worse and what punishment did they actually get?, a paltry $10K fine!.

A big problem with this section is that there are far too many none Ferrari supporters on it who seem to post purely to start arguments with the Ferrari fans. I don't expect or want this to be a total Ferrari Love-in, a bit of banter and debate is good and opinions will differ, that's nature, but I get the impression that some are on here purely to stir trouble.

 

I can't disagree with any of that.

Rules are rules.

 

True, but it appears that the problem comes with how well you disguise breaking them, not with actually breaking them!

 

Yes Phil, it really is that simple..

 

There are some great comments in this thread.

 

Again I say, Ferrari have done nothing that other teams haven't done, the only difference is that they (and for "they" read: Rob Smedley/ Massa), didn't hide it as well as the others did.

You say Ferrari were dishonest, how?. They didn't pretend something had happened that didn't really, like other teams do. They didn't lie to the fans about what was going on. There was no pretend "botched" pitstop that cost Massa the lead, Massa didn't make a "driving mistake" that cost him the lead.

If the fans were fully aware of just how many times the teams actually lie to them in a season, they'd be shocked.

As for people gambling on race results: bad luck!. Some people would have bet on Massa winning and they lost. Others would have bet on Alonso winning and they won. It's all part of the risk you take when you choose to gamble. If Ferrari allowed their drivers to race wheel to wheel and they both crashed out, both sides would lose out!.

The goal of the sport is to win the WDC and the WCC, that's what they pay Millions to do, not to be there to entertain the public. At the end of the year they don't gather in Monaco and announce the World Entertaining Team for the season.

The fact that people like to watch is a by product of the sport, not the main objective. If on race day there was no one in the stands, would the teams say: "We're not racing today because there's no one to entertain"?, I don't think so, they'd be pushing as hard as if there were 100,000 people in the stands to get as many points as possible to win the WDC & WCC.

Check the history of the sport you proclaim to be a fan of first and you'll find that it was always based on the very principle that Ferrari operates under, working as a team with team orders in order to win the Championships. Other teams, as you say, operate under a different principle to Ferrari and which team is the most successful team in F1?.

BTW, both McLaren and Red Bull have stated that they will not favour one driver over another YET!. This says to Me that they will employ team orders when it suits them (pretty much what Ferrari is already doing!).

Based on the racing you seem to want to see, perhaps GP2 would be better for you?.

As for Me, I'm Tifosi 100%, F1 without Ferrari?, as My friend Ally Pally would say: see ya!, don't wanna be ya!.

 

Did you not see the press conference after the race where Massa said he missed a gear? Did you not see the interviews with all of the Ferrari people where they lied to the fans about what happened? I think you might want to go back and have a look.

 

Ok, I looked and I can't find Massa saying he missed a gear but read all of these questions and answers from the press conference and then tell us that Alonso and Massa are being 100% honest with their fans.

http://www.forumula1.net/2010/f1/f1-news/german-grand-prix-2010-post-race-press-conference/

 

Having read all of that, I still don't see any part of it where either driver is lying. Their answers may not be as direct as some people may want but there's a difference between vague answers and outright lying.

Massa is asked:
Q. Fernando managed to get past you. Did you make a mistake? Was it under braking?

to which Massa answers:
FM: He passed me.

A lie?. No.



Massa is then asked:
Q. Did you feel that you weren’t allowed to win that race?

Massa's answer:
FM: No, the only thing I feel is that we are working for the team and we are doing a very good job for the team and that is the most important thing.

a lie?. No, it's a statement of fact.



Alonso is asked:

Q. It certainly wasn’t a risky manoeuvre when you managed to get past Felipe. It looked rather easy from where we were watching.

To which Alonso responds:
FA: Well, I think I don’t know what happened, but at the exit of turn six I saw Felipe a little bit slow and tried to overtake.

A lie?. No, again, a statement of fact.



Please re-read the interview again and tell Me where the answers are blatant lies and not merely vague answers.

I have to give both Ferrari drivers credit for how they handled the press, especially to Alonso for the way he handled himself during his very own Spanish inquisition from the British press who were determined to persecute him on the spot.
He didn't loose his cool, he remained calm and simply shrugged off questions from the British press that were being asked, for My money, in the style of a thug in a pub looking for a fight. I actually felt that the vitriol with which they asked their questions was bordering on being unprofessional!.