F1: Italy Split After Ferrari's Failed Bid For Win

Formula 1

F1: Italy Split After Ferrari’s Failed Bid For Win

Pundits are split on whether Ferrari's one-stop strategy was best for Fernando Alonso in Montreal...

SPEED Staff / GMM | Posted June 12, 2012 GMM Newswire

Ferrari ranked 15th on a new Forbes list of the world's most valuable sports teams with an estimated value of just over $1 billion. (Photo: Getty Images)

Ferrari has defended itself amid claims its race strategy in Canada on Sunday was "suicidal."

Despite the Maranello team stepping forward again in performance terms, the Italian press was highly critical after Fernando Alonso's bid for victory went awry in Montreal.

La Stampa called persevering with the one-stop strategy a case of "Harakiri della Ferrari."

La Repubblica, meanwhile, said the strategy was "pazza, davvero pazza" (crazy, really crazy)."

Team boss Stefano Domenicali, however, said it is easy to see the strategy was wrong in hindsight.

"Of course in hindsight, my kids who are seven and eight years old could do the right thing," he insisted.

Domenicali said engineers discussed live the strategy choice with Alonso, and decided for one stop on the basis that the Spaniard was managing the degradation of the tires well.

Again, in hindsight, it was obviously the wrong choice in light of his slide into the chasing pack.

"When you arrive at a certain moment, you have to go for one solution or another, so at that stage the situation was OK, so we kept going in that direction," said Domenicali.

Alonso agrees.

"(Romain) Grosjean nearly won the race with one stop, so it was the right strategy. We tried to win the race and it didn't work, but I was happy with the approach and the points," he added.

La Gazzetta dello Sport, the authoritative Italian sports daily, also backed Ferrari.

"For the first time this season, Ferrari took a gamble in a bid to win — it backfired, but these things happen. It was worth the risk," the report read.