Fernando Alonso ‘won’ a rather processional German Grand Prix after Ferrari blatantly ordered Felipe Massa to let his team-mate past, an action which will no doubt be a talking point for some time to come.
Alonso was unable to overtake Massa on the track or take the lead by means of pit stop strategy and so over the radio came the message, ‘Alonso is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand?’, a blatant order to let him past. Massa duly obeyed, his team adding what sounded like a very sincere ‘sorry’ after he had complied.
David Coultard: I think it’s quite clear that Rob Smedley did not want to give that message to his driver and I think it’s unfair of team management to ask engineers to give that message to drivers.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner: I have to say that is the clearest team order I’ve ever seen. It will be interesting to see what the stewards make of it because for me it was as clear as 2002, which is why the rule was brought in. It’s wrong for the sport. The drivers should have been allowed to race. Massa did the better job. He was in the lead and the regulations are pretty clear – team orders are not allowed.
Anthony Davidson: That was as blatant as it comes. He might as well have put his arm out of the cockpit and waved him through. Massa did deserve to win the race, and it really does bruise you as a driver to be told to get out of the way for the number one driver.
Eddie Jordan: 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.
A lot of fence-sitting on this point then.