Martin Whitmarsh - " I'd lose before fixing a race "

Oh man this is rich, I can't stop laughing.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/motorsport/3069717/McLaren-boss-Id-lose-before-fixing-a-race.html

McLAREN'S boss last night insisted he would rather Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button lost the World Championship than fix a race.

As Formula One reels from the Ferrari team-orders storm, Martin Whitmarsh said he would never favour one driver over another.

The Italian outfit could be kicked out of the sport after telling Felipe Massa to allow Fernando Alonso to overtake him and win Sunday's German Grand Prix.

Whitmarsh admits McLaren had every reason to favour Hamilton in 2007 when Spaniard Alonso was wrongly accusing them of backing his rookie British team-mate.

But both men were given equal treatment and the duo finished one point behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in the drivers' championship.

Team chief Whitmarsh, 53, said: "We sacrificed a World Championship in 2007. We had every reason to be different.

"There is always a bit of you which says we shouldn't have done that but overall I'm proud we did.

"Had we leant to give the advantage to one of our drivers then it would have made enough of a difference to have acquired the extra point to have won the championship.

"I remember talking to the drivers and their management. I said a great driver would want to look themselves in the mirror and say, 'I have won this championship on merit, not by the team leaning one way and giving me an advantage'.

"We do desperately want to win but it's about how you win.

"If you win and you know you have cheated then I don't see how at any stage in your career - or post-career when you reflect upon it - you can have that feeling of ecstasy."

Whitmarsh plans talks with Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali to discuss the fall-out.

But other team chiefs were united in condemning the Italian team, who face a disrepute rap after the stewards referred the Hockenheim incident to the World Motor Sport Council.

Mercedes boss Nick Fry blasted: "We all have to obey the rules.

"The show is what generates the fans, the fans are what generates the sponsors and the sponsors generate sponsorship which allows us to run the teams.

"This is sport and the fans want to see the drivers fighting."

And Red Bull supremo Christian Horner said: "It's a great shame that the race was manipulated to give one driver a victory over the other. The only loser is F1."

The WMSC is set to meet next month in Paris, where it has the power to boot Ferrari out of the championship, impose a race ban or strip Alonso of the victory that leaves him fifth in the standings, 34 points behind leader Hamilton.

Ferrari will say there was no direct order to Massa to slow down 20 laps from the end to reignite his team-mate's title bid.

But the 'coded' message that Alonso was faster was obvious to all who heard it.

WMSC chief Jean Todt - who as Ferrari boss in Austria in 2002 ordered Rubens Barrichello to move over for Michael Schumacher - is not expected to take his place at the hearing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/7911480/McLaren-chief-insist-he-would-rather-forfeit-the-championship-than-use-team-orders.html

The Italian team were fined $100,000 (£64,500) and the case referred to the governing body’s World Motor Sport Council “for further consideration” after barely coded instructions were issued to Felipe Massa, via his race engineer Rob Smedley, which resulted in the Brazilian slowing down and allowing team-mate Fernando Alonso through to claim victory at Hockenheim.

The incident was a clear breach of article 39.1 of the FIA’s sporting regulations, which states that team orders “which interfere with a race result are prohibited.”

However, while the crime is clear and the punishment could yet prove hefty — the WMSC has the power to dish out limitless fines or ban teams from the sport — the case has sparked debate within Formula One about the merits of team orders.

Some believe that Ferrari flagrantly flouted the rules and deserve to be banned for cheating the public of a clean race. Others, such as Formula One’s commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone, believe teams should be allowed to run their teams as they see fit.

“I would agree with anyone who thinks that,” Ecclestone said yesterday. “We make people call it a team, we say it’s got be a team. All the cars have to be exactly the same, the drivers wear the same overalls, so everybody has to look like a team – a team of people that are racing.

“I believe what people do when they are inside the team, and how they run their team, is up to them.”

Asked if the rule — which was introduced in 2002 when then Ferrari team principal and current FIA president Jean Todt ordered Rubens Barrichello to give up a race win for team-mate Michael Schumacher — could be scrapped Ecclestone, who sits on the World Council, said: “We’ll have to see. It’s something that needs to be discussed. As far as I’m concerned a team is a team, and they should run it whichever way they want to run it.

“Of course if they do something that’s dangerous then obviously they’re going to be in trouble, otherwise get on with it.”

Whitmarsh, who also chairs the Formula One Teams’ Association and plans to speak privately with Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali, said he did not wish to get drawn into a public slanging match but assured fans that McLaren would never favour one driver over the other.

“You can go back to the late Nineties and all sorts of times when things have happened – but we decide to race. I think having our drivers racing, in the longer term, is a healthy thing to do for this team. That is my decision and that is what we want to do.”

Whitmarsh points to McLaren’s stance in 2007, when they allowed Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to race to the bitter end, only to lose the drivers’ title by a single point to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, and says he is “proud” of the way lost that year.

“In 2007 we sacrificed a world championship,” he said. “We lost by one point. Had we leaned in my opinion to the advantage of one of our two drivers that year – and there were lots of temptations to do so – then it would have made enough of a difference to have acquired the extra point to have won.

"But I remember talking to the drivers and their management and saying what a great driver would want to do is look themselves in the mirror and say I have won this championship on merit and not by the team leaning one way and giving me an advantage.”

Whitmarsh’s comments are likely to rile some observers who would point to the fact that McLaren were caught stealing information from Ferrari in 2007 during a row dubbed Spygate, and then last year were found guilty of ordering Hamilton to lie to race stewards to hold on to his podium position in Australia.

Whitmarsh, though, is adamant that the team would not favour one driver over the other.

“We didn’t in 2007 and we had every reason to then. There was quite a lot of provocation to do something different. There is always a bit of you who says we shouldn’t have done that but overall I am proud and I wouldn’t be talking about it unless I had some sort of perverse pride in it.”

Not every team boss admits to being as scrupulous. Lotus’s chief technical officer, Mike Gascoyne, as good as admitted that all teams gave team orders in one way or another and said Ferrari’s mistake was to be too obvious.

“Obviously, it is a team sport and you have to get the best result for the team, in particular when you are at the front and racing for a championship,” Gascoyne said.

“The bottom line is if you are going to do it then do so far more cleverly than they did. It is clear the fans feel cheated by it when you do it like they did, which was just ridiculous.”

 

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Pretty much, the guy is a buffoon and the fact that he want's to talk to Ferrari over the incident is even more laughable. Honestly what is he trying to accomplish?