http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104393 So, forget being a Ferrari fan, is this a sportsman like call considering you f**kup others on the grid, or was this totally unsportsmanlike? Doubtful we get a truthful response here, but, what the heck.
I thought it was brilliant. No one broke the rules. You play to win. In fact just being honest about what they did made it very well played.
I don't like cheating, and I don't like dishonesty. Now, that being said, all Ferrari did was utilize the rules to their advantage for Alonso. I don't like that Massa gets sacrificed, but that's the game. It's not like other teams wouldn't do the same thing. It is what it is. Mark
Exactly. It was not cheating. It was using the rules to your advantage. It's a team sport. Massa knows that. Massa was going to move over for Alonso at some point. Doing it at the start of the race not only advanced Alonso but put him on the better side. Brilliant.
Actually the gearbox change in RG's car set it all in motion. Ferrari had qualified on the outside in 7 and 9. When lotus swapped the box, it moved Ferrari to 6 and 8 on the inside. Ferrari simply matched this move by moving Massa via the penalty. This moved FA to 7 and massa to 11 so BOTH cars moved from the inside to the outside. Very clever and legal.
Cheating is using the rules to your advantage and getting caught. Reminds of the olympic badminton players that decided to take a breather during a match. Most sports orgs have a catch-all rule about bringing the sport into disrepute http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20253052
This brilliant move went a long way to make me believe in the team again. They really are in it to win it, despite some dumb decisions. This was smart.
I'm with these guys. Take every advantage. This was within the letter of the law for F1 - no qualms at all. All the best, Andrew.
I see this move as no worse than Red Bull in Abu Dhabi, pulling Seb's car out of parc ferme and modifying it for an overtaking / strictly race setup. Both moves completely legal per the rules. Don't like it? Change the rules.
Agreed, brilliant move - and it actually helped Massa as well, by moving him to the clean side of the grid. Instead of guaranteed losing a place or two at the start, he gained a few places. Compare to Button - at the end of lap 1, Button dropped from 12th on the dirty side of the grid to 16th?, and Massa jumped from 11th to 7th. Even though Button was faster, Massa still finished ahead of him at the end, due to the clean side start advantage. Now, if after Ferrari's decision Red Bull had decided to also break the seal on Webber's transmission, thus moving the Ferraris back to the dirty side of the grid, that would have been REALLY brilliant!
When playing sport you play within the boundary of the rules. The strategy was within the rules and thus legal. Brilliant use of the rules to gain an advantage. It's not the first time for the Scuderia nor will it be the last time that they will use the rules to their advantage. What about years ago when traction control was not allowed but MS used the pit lane speed limiter as a form of traction control when cornering at a particular corner. All the teams push the boundaries of the rules with the design of the cars. Just recently we were all looking at and discussing the legality of the flexibility of the Red Bull front nose. The front nose is within the rules , no difference with what the team did here. If other teams are p***ed its because they hadn't thought of it. If FIA doesn't like it they will change the rules.
I don't see it any different to Vettel changing his setup to a race setup last race while getting a penalty. If he was running his qual setup he would of never made it to 3rd place or even the points. The rule that drivers should get a 5-10 place grid penalty because of reliability issues is the problem not Ferrari making this call. I don't watch F1 to see which car can run 4 races with the same gearbox or engine. How many other drivers have done gearbox changes that might of been for the same reasons? Fix the rules Mr Todt.
+1000000 and its not like the move came free for Ferrari; they had to drop a driver 5 spots on the grid. Worth it for Massa? Obviously not but for the team it paid huge dividends. And at some point Massa would be told to give way to Alonso anyways...better sooner than later. And it is a one winner sport, so yeah you have to be somewhat selfish to win it for yourself and your team.
Brilliant move by the Scuderia that made me speechless and brought a smile to my face at the same time! Well done counter move to Seb the week before. The cans move in Abu Dhabi saved Vettel, this may have given the Scuderia a fighting chance for the WDC. Kudos, as this move will be discussed for many years to come if Ferrari and Fred win.
Ah, no. How about others who have ELECTED to take a grid penalty to have the ability to change their tire strategy. Is that cheating? No, it's using the rules to your advantage.
I believe that's what he get paid to do. Never the less, I think that with all of the regulations in Formula 1 that you need to take advantage of any thing you can get your hands on. Was this shady? Sure. Legal? Yes. Here's to Fred having a great final round and the cards falling where the do.
That doesn't happen..... We've had 'em choose not to run in Q3 in order to have a choice, but you don't get a grid penalty for doing nothing. Cheers, Ian
Grosjean's gearbox change happened in Saturday practice, well before Qualifying took place. It was already baked into things before anyone had a position on the grid. Ferrari made their decision after the grid was settled and it was solely a play to take advantage of how the rules are written. >8^) ER
