Nine Japanese Automakers

The controversy brews on about the Ferrari decision to have Felipe Massa let Fernando Alonso pass him in the German Grand Prix. Talk about much ado about nothing.

Let's reset the situation. Sebastian Vettel had made another meal of it at the start, which allowed both Ferraris by. Massa led with Alonso behind. After pit stops, Alonso started to catch up to Massa who was having clear problems on the harder Bridgestone compound. Could Alonso have passed Massa? Maybe. Maybe not. Nobody knows because Ferrari made a decision to tell Massa that Fernando was faster than him. This was obviously code to let Alonso pass and that is exactly what Massa did.

The reaction to all this has been outrage and much gnashing of teeth. It is laughable. Really. Let me ask you a question. Do you think there are team orders in Formula 1 even though they are illegal? Of course there are. Do you think Renault tells Petrov to get the hell out of Kubica's way? Of course they do. Don't you find it a bit strange that Mark Webber was told to start saving fuel near the end of the Turkish Grand Prix when Vettel wasn't? How do you think Vettel suddenly caught up to Webber? Team orders happen all the time and only the most biased viewer or commenter would suggest anything differently.

Let's talk about the most obvious version of team orders. Let's say your number two driver is leading the number one. You have to figure out how to get the order reversed. What has been the time-tested way of doing this in F1? Right, you have the number two driver pit and let the number one burn off a few fast laps while the number two driver "gets his tires up to temperature". It happens every race and you have to be blind not to see it.

Is Ferrari guilty of anything? Yes. They handled the situation very poorly. They made the situation so obvious that they humiliated Felipe Massa who responded as you might expect. Unfortunately, the team really didn't have much option. The best choice would have been to purse the pit stop strategy, but that was impossible given Vettel being so close behind. Given this, what should the team have done? It is unclear.

Was Ferrari correct in telling Felipe to move over? Absolutely. Just look at the numbers. Massa started the race a staggering 78 points behind Hamilton. He has no chance of winning the championship. Alonso, on the other hand, was 47 points behind. He doesn't have a great position, but it was a hell of a lot better than Massa. Now with the win, Alonso is within 34 points. Logically, it just makes sense to push Alonso forward.

What will all this end up meaning? It will be much ado about nothing. The stewards fined the team $100k, a drop in the bucket. The FIA will look at it and probably do something similar. What will the lesson be? Do it in a smarter way next time.