Monday, July 26, 2010

A scandal in Hockenheim

It's the old case of some people never wanting to learn from past mistakes and blunders. Ferrari once again proved their arrogance and disregard for rules and sportsmanship at the Hockenheimring yesterday in what clearly appeared to be team orders, allowing Alonso to pass Massa for the victory.

I am a Ferrari fan, but what the team did yesterday was shameful! Alonso was quicker and would have eventually passed Massa and the fans would have seen a real battle for victory. Instead, Ferrari chose the 'safer' and more cowardly route by asking Massa to back off. I feel sorry for Massa. He had a perfect start on the cleaner side of the track and while Vettel was busy defending his line with Alonso, Massa eased into the lead and did a mighty good job of staying in front. He even traded the fastest laps with Alonso for a good part of the race before having to make way. Massa is an all round nice guy and din't make an issue out of this incident. Wonder if Webber or Vettel would react the same way had this happened at Red Bull. Sometime I feel Massa is just being too nice and this has given Alonso, who is known to be aggressive license to stamp his authority at Scuderia. I am an Alonso fan but wasn't celebrating the victory.

I understand that F-1 is a team sport and the teams fortunes always comes first but when you professionals slugging it out for a victory, reminding one of your own drivers that he is a clear number 2 is not going to inspire any confidence and Massa was clearly a broken man at the podium. 

Ferrari have gotten away with a $100000 fine but deserve to be dealt with more severely and it's high time the FIA lead by Jean Todt show some backbone and ensure that such unsavory incidents don't happen again. This is a game of racing guys and let's please leave it at that!

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