Following their one-two result at the German Grand Prix, Ferrari have been fined USD $100,000 by the FIA after race stewards deemed they had breached the sporting regulations.
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, who had been leading the German Grand Prix, moved aside to allow Fernando Alonso passing him on Lap 49. A few moments before, Massa’s race engineer Rob Smedley radioed the Brazilian “So, Fernando is faster than you” – “Can you confirm you understood that message?”
Although Ferrari maintained this did not constitute a team order, the stewards decided the Italian team contravened Article 39.1 of the sporting regulations, which regulates against team orders, and Article 151 (c) of the 2010 FIA International Sporting Code, which relates to bringing the sport into disrepute.
The decision will also be forwarded to the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council for possible further consideration.
After the race Massa said: “In my opinion this was not a case of team orders: my engineer kept me constantly informed on what was going on behind me, especially when I was struggling a bit on the hard tyres: so I decided to do the best thing for the team, and a one-two finish is the best possible result, isn’t it?”
