steelstallions
29th July 2010, 22:02
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jGKFy1zMJ-d6Wf3rZQPCAaw93I6w
Australian Mark Webber has said Ferrari were right to initiate team orders during the German Grand Prix and that Fernando Alonso fully deserved to win the race.
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa handed the Hockenheim victory to teammate Alonso after being told over the team radio that the Spaniard was the quicker driver.
Ferrari have since been fined 100,000 dollars for breaking the rules banning team orders, and the matter will be brought before the FIA's World Motor Sports Council
But Red Bull driver Webber believes that Massa, who had led for the majority of the race, was given every chance to win.
"They gave Felipe a good opportunity to win the grand prix as well," said Webber ahead of Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.
"They gave him the chance to win the race up to the point where he couldn't pull away from Fernando.
"Obviously they had a decision in the team where the fastest guy in the team wins the race. The fastest guy on that day won the race.
"I still believe Massa has a chance to win this race here - a real chance to win. If he is fast enough to disappear, he will win the race. That was the opportunity he also had at Hockenheim.
"His first stint at Hockenheim was incredible, a very good first stint. The second stint obviously just wasn't quite fast enough to avoid the positions being moved around because they wanted the faster guy to win the grand prix."
Webber added that team orders are commonplace and would rather see teams implementing them openly rather than slow pitstops or pre-arranged overtakes.
"Very, very, very difficult to control team orders. They've been happening for 40 years in the sport and they'll happen in the future," he said.
"Obviously for the fans, you can understand it was a different thing, but it's happened so many times since 2002. For the victory it's a different thing, but the people who think it's the first time it's happened are absolutely dreaming. It's not the only time."
"That's the way it is. If you have a two-car team, three-car team, four-car team, there's always going to be certain situations at certain tracks and certain points in championships where one car is going to need to be in a definite position and the team can influence that - so they will.
"It's better than doing a deliberate bad pitstop, or whatever. You can do so many things to make it hard, so to try and have a rule which says that you cannot manipulate or have a team order in a grand prix is virtually impossible.
"I could agree something tonight between you and me in the hotel and it would be done.
"Much better to do something like this than something that's hidden from everyone. In this case, this team got the maximum result."Well he just went up in my estimations. No bull about no teams doing it and no hypocrisy.
Australian Mark Webber has said Ferrari were right to initiate team orders during the German Grand Prix and that Fernando Alonso fully deserved to win the race.
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa handed the Hockenheim victory to teammate Alonso after being told over the team radio that the Spaniard was the quicker driver.
Ferrari have since been fined 100,000 dollars for breaking the rules banning team orders, and the matter will be brought before the FIA's World Motor Sports Council
But Red Bull driver Webber believes that Massa, who had led for the majority of the race, was given every chance to win.
"They gave Felipe a good opportunity to win the grand prix as well," said Webber ahead of Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.
"They gave him the chance to win the race up to the point where he couldn't pull away from Fernando.
"Obviously they had a decision in the team where the fastest guy in the team wins the race. The fastest guy on that day won the race.
"I still believe Massa has a chance to win this race here - a real chance to win. If he is fast enough to disappear, he will win the race. That was the opportunity he also had at Hockenheim.
"His first stint at Hockenheim was incredible, a very good first stint. The second stint obviously just wasn't quite fast enough to avoid the positions being moved around because they wanted the faster guy to win the grand prix."
Webber added that team orders are commonplace and would rather see teams implementing them openly rather than slow pitstops or pre-arranged overtakes.
"Very, very, very difficult to control team orders. They've been happening for 40 years in the sport and they'll happen in the future," he said.
"Obviously for the fans, you can understand it was a different thing, but it's happened so many times since 2002. For the victory it's a different thing, but the people who think it's the first time it's happened are absolutely dreaming. It's not the only time."
"That's the way it is. If you have a two-car team, three-car team, four-car team, there's always going to be certain situations at certain tracks and certain points in championships where one car is going to need to be in a definite position and the team can influence that - so they will.
"It's better than doing a deliberate bad pitstop, or whatever. You can do so many things to make it hard, so to try and have a rule which says that you cannot manipulate or have a team order in a grand prix is virtually impossible.
"I could agree something tonight between you and me in the hotel and it would be done.
"Much better to do something like this than something that's hidden from everyone. In this case, this team got the maximum result."Well he just went up in my estimations. No bull about no teams doing it and no hypocrisy.