Ferrari make their team orders a little too public

Very interesting German GP today. Not the racing, it was rather processional as is typical with the high downforce tracks.

Obviously there is one big talking point, Ferrari instituting team orders despite the idea being “banned” by the FIA. May as well make sunrise illegal, the team employs the drivers and everyone is fully aware of their place in the pecking order.

Alonso had caught and been pushing Massa hard for several laps. He told his race engineer on lap 22 “This is ridiculous.”

A couple of minute’s later Massa was told, “Fernando is faster than you, did you understand that message?” As coded messages go it’s not exactly subtle.

On Lap 49, Massa lifted on the exit of the hairpin and Alonso easily shot past the Brazilian. Massa was told “OK good lad. Just stick with him now.” after he had been passed. Massa could have handled being over taken in a more subtle way, he left no doubt that he does not agree with the decision. We will see how the politics at Ferrari deal with that over the next few weeks.

Massa was a good employee and did what he was told, he confirmed the radio conversation but later also said he had been struggling after switching to harder tires. There is little question that Alonso was quicker, but with there being so few overtaking opportunities at Hockenheim that’s irrelevant if he could not get past. As ever the onus is in the passing driver to make the move, not to be let through.

Interestingly the FIA and stewards moved with lightning speed (for the FIA) and immediately after the race Ferrari was given a $100,000 fine (not even a slap on the wrist) and referred to the World Motor Sport Council for bringing the sport into disrepute. The WMSC is the top body in the FIA and could give further sanctions against Ferrari. At this time the result from Germany stands. We will see how seriously the WMSC takes it when they meet in September.

Felipe Massa gets the last word on this for now “For sure you always want to win. We don’t have team orders. If you can’t do the race you want, you have to think about the team. I am professional, and today I showed how professional I am.”

Some thoughts on the season so far, it’s been as good as I’d hoped. The racing has generally been close; the top teams are very close. Clearly Red Bull are the team to beat on Friday and Saturday, but they have been unable to translate the qualifying performance to as many wins on Sunday afternoon as they maybe should have. Both the team and drivers seem to be prone to making mistakes during the race.

The crash between Vettel and Weber in Turkey is the prime example, there is no excuse for what happened and the more I look at it the more Vettel looks at fault. No question Sebastian Vettel is incredibly quick and is the heir to Michael Schumacher. He seems less obsessed with the details and has very clearly shown that he has what it takes to win the championship, just needs to stop making the silly mistakes and make it count when he has the front row of the grid.

The two McLarens never seemed to have the outright pace of Ferrari and Red Bull, but they came through with probably the best positions they could hope for.

Lewis Hamilton is on a rich run of form right now; the distractions over his family and management seem to have been dealt with and he is unquestionably the fastest driver out there if the car is up to it. But that’s the problem McLaren seem to be struggling compared to Red Bull and Ferrari on the higher downforce circuits. It’s going to be interesting to see what the team does about that.

He seems to have taken back the initiative from Jenson Button over the last 3 or 4 races. Button has done very well, I think most people thought he was going to get eaten for lunch by Hamilton, but that’s not been the case and he deserves a lot of credit for that strength and fortitude.

The team has been clear that the pair started off as equals but Lewis is starting to shine more now and as much as the pair insists that they are teammates, they are also massive rivals too. If Button has a ruthless side he needs to start showing it a little more if he wants to start worrying Hamilton for the championship.

There is a lot of racing left to go, but if Hamilton keeps picking up points the way he has been it’s going to be tough for anyone to catch him. I think it’s down to Vettel making full use of the equipment advantage, or Button really going at him and taking a few risks.