VARSHA: When Some Are More Equal Than Others
Felipe Massa wouldn't comment post race about team orders...
Fernando Alonso led both practices Friday in Belgium. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
As much as we'd all like to say that sport should be about showcasing talented athletes trying to reach their full potential in the crucible of competition, it is also undeniably a ruthless business. There are two championships, for Drivers and Constructors, and each team has two very competitive independent contractors driving the cars. As my colleague and former Benetton mechanic Steve Matchett has pointed out often, the one the teams really prize is the Constructors. Aside from any cash bonuses involved, it is the one accolade that every member of the team can claim a share of. A driver can win a title and move to another team, depriving his old mates of the right to display the number one the following season, as Jenson Button did just last year. The Constructors trophy stays at the factory. And then there are the commercial issues: Massa and Alonso don't build and sell the Ferrari street cars, Ferrari does. And even the least sophisticated fan may not know who drives the cars, but they know what Ferrari represents.
With all that pressure to succeed for the brand and it’s sponsors, Ferrari could be accused of negligence, or even incompetence, if they didn't do absolutely everything in their power to maximize their chances of winning both titles. Just getting the 1-2 sweep wasn’t enough; they needed their better-placed driver in the points, Alonso, to get the maximum haul. There's a 7-point difference between first and second place, or a total of 63 extra points available for the nine races remaining coming into the German weekend. Alonso arrived in Hockenheim with a far better mathematical chance than Massa of overcoming the McLaren and Red Bull drivers ahead of him in points. Thus I suspect it wasn’t really a tough call: Ferrari needed Alonso to win the race, with Massa second.
Even if you accept that the position switch was a valid move given the big picture in the championship, the question remains: were the fans cheated? Except for those favoring Massa, I don’t think so. Then again, I also think that the angry fans after the 6-car “tiregate” USGP in 2005 are now probably proud to say they witnessed the historic debacle. But unlike Indy, if Ferrari had handled the position switch in Germany more artfully, perhaps by slowing Massa with reports of fuel, tire or braking issues, I’ll bet lots of us wouldn’t even have noticed the ruse. That’s why I say the rule against team orders is unenforceable.
And so we wait for a decision by the World Motor Sport Council in Paris. An interesting sidebar to the WSMC hearing will be what role FIA President Jean Todt plays. The Frenchman who now presides over enforcement of the rules was also the Ferrari boss who issued those team orders to Barrichello in 2002. Back then Todt was famous for wearing heavy Ferrari sweaters in the hottest weather without breaking a sweat. We’ll see whether his upper lip stays dry in the air-conditioned chambers of Paris when his old team is called on the carpet.
