Stefano Domenicali has welcomed the FIA’s abolition of the rule prohibiting team orders.

The governing body, now headed by president Jean Todt, revisited the controversial rule after Ferrari’s place-swapping during this year’s German grand prix at Hockenheim.

The Maranello based team never admitted to ordering Felipe Massa to move aside for Fernando Alonso, but at the same time has always maintained that F1 is a team sport in which team strategies are commonplace.

“Finally, we have said goodbye to this pointless hypocrisy,” said team boss Domenicali after Friday’s announcement that article 39.1 has been “deleted” for 2011.

“For us, formula one is a team sport and we have always maintained that viewpoint and it should be treated as such,” he told reporters at the Bologna motor show.

Whilst many commentators and fans are angry at the outcome of Wednesday’s disciplinary hearing, others say the time is right to axe the ban on team orders.

The Telegraph observed that if the sport’s governing body is reluctant to harshly punish a “blatant” rules breach like Ferrari’s at Hockenheim, then “the rule really does need reviewing”.

“By removing it, at least the hypocrisy of teams who practise it yet preach something else entirely would be removed,” added the broadsheet.

The Guardian agrees that “most teams” pay only “lip service” to the ban that is “largely unworkable”.

It is rumoured that the FIA considered imposing a 5 second time penalty to winner Fernando Alonso, which would have installed the subordinate Felipe Massa as the official winner.

But the Council decided against it, meaning this verdict “is a precedent that will likely allow team orders to be continued to be used in the sport”, a New York Times blogger wrote.

Brazilian columnist Livio Oricchio said the next step should be the axing of the ban, so “there is less theatre and more truth in formula one”.

Germany’s Bild agreed: “Either team orders are punished brutally, or they are officially allowed once again.”

Said F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone: “The rules need to be looked at again.

“If you swapped your drivers around with a few laps left, that is bringing the sport into disrepute.  But if you do it earlier, I don’t have a problem with team orders.”

Enrico Gelpi, president of the Italian sanctioning body ACI and a FIA member, said: “The rule will be reviewed.

“For us it would be a good idea to remove it completely.  The general attitude in the FIA towards this change is favourable.”

He said the topic would be discussed at the next World Motor Sport Council meeting in November.

Because of the current summer break all Formula 1 teams are sentenced to to suspend altogether two weeks to work completely. But Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali is convinced that “we are on vacation, but that does not mean that our brains cease to function.” Perhaps one could even inspire new if you are even staying outside the normal working environment, so Domenicali on the official website of the Scuderia.

Ferrari is also to use the summer break to get to the meeting of the FIA World Council on 8 September to prepare. Then it will be decided whether the Italian racing team is penalized go on for its stable government at the Grand Prix of Germany. Domenicali has the whole debate, but enough already. “I was speechless whether the whole hypocrisy in our world.”

Instead, the team manager would like to concentrate on continuing the upward trend in sports. “The second half of July went very well and I hope this has given us the momentum for the last part of the season. We know that there is still much to do, because we still do not have the best car. But that should only be a further incentive. ”

Domenicali was with the reaction of his team very happy when they threatened to lose at some point of the season following the World Cup top. Ferrari, Fernando Alonso is now back in the middle of a world title fight. “We have discussed with Fernando a few days: should we manage to always be on the front seats, can we get satisfaction.”

In their blogs on the official Ferrari website, Felipe Massa said Hockenheim had been a “great team result”, while Fernando Alonso said victory was a “great feeling”.
They did not even mention the team orders scandal.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali summed up the internal mood – while the F1 world is alight with controversy – by saying he wants Ferrari to “remain focussed on our own work, starting in Budapest” this weekend.

But the headline in Brazil’s Globo summed up the attitude as ‘no remorse’, while the Jornal do Brasil published a cartoon of Paulista Massa as a puppet.

In Italy, however, Tuttosport backed Luca di Montezemolo’s claim about team order “hypocrisy”, accusing Martin Whitmarsh of having “amnesia” when he suggested there are no team orders at McLaren.

The article referred to Hockenheim 2008, when Heikki Kovalainen gave way to Lewis Hamilton.

Other reports have referred to the arguable ‘low fuel’ messages for Jenson Button and Hamilton recently, with Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport claiming the pair received a similar order last Sunday.

Indeed, in La Gazzetta dello Sport, writer Umberto Zapelloni appeared to praise Ferrari for applying its team orders “without subterfuge”.

“Massa was not told he was consuming too much fuel or his tyres were in crisis, but others have been (told those things) this season,” he wrote.

As the Hockenheim team orders furore continues, Ferrari team president Luca di Montezemolo has cried “enough of this hypocrisy”.

Leading figures of the top rival McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes teams have lashed out at the famous Italian marque after Felipe Massa was ordered aside for Fernando Alonso for victory at Sunday’s German grand prix.

“We all have to obey the rules,” said Mercedes GP chief executive Nick Fry.

Red Bull’s Christian Horner added: “It’s a great shame that the race was manipulated to give one driver a victory over the other.”

And McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh, also chairman of the F1 teams union FOTA, said: “We do desperately want to win but it’s about how you win.”

The Briton also said he would speak “privately” about the issue to Ferrari.

While hitting back at what he describes as “polemics”, Montezemolo at least seemed to steer away from the team’s earlier denial that Massa was given a team order.

“These things have happened since the days of Nuvolari and I experienced it myself when I was sporting director, in the days of Niki Lauda and not just then,” said Montezemolo.

“The polemics are of no interest to me,” added the Italian.

“Enough of this hypocrisy, even if I can well believe that some people might have liked to see our two drivers eliminate one another, but that is definitely not the case for me or indeed for our fans,” he said.

F1′s harsh spotlight of the international media is shining on Ferrari and Fernando Alonso, but also the regulation prohibiting team orders.

In a frosty post-race press conference at Hockenheim, some reporters warned Spaniard Alonso he now risks winning a “dirty” championship, comparing his win at the hands of an illegal team order to his victory at Singapore in 2008.

“That’s your opinion,” the Ferrari driver told them.

Team orders, of course – dating back to the gentleman racer’s days when number two drivers would pull into the pits to hand over their cars – are nothing new.

“This was just handled very badly,” said Lotus’ Mike Gascoyne.

And Ferrari’s handling in Germany, with Felipe Massa ordered aside by way of a coded message from apologetic engineer Rob Smedley, fuelled the media’s fire.

“I am glad that the media in the paddock are kind of like our police,” remarked Alex Wurz.

But according to Spain’s Marca sports daily, “the English press showed no mercy” for a driver who clashed so memorably with Lewis Hamilton back in 2007.

The Sunday Express called Alonso and Ferrari “dirty, thieving cheats”, while even the milder Daily Telegraph admitted that the World Motor Sport Council could in theory disqualify the famous team from formula one at an August meeting.

“A suspension for a number of races is another possibility,” said the Daily Mail.

Triple world champion Niki Lauda scolded Alonso for blatantly denying he had won the race thanks to a team order.  The Independent newspaper said “nobody was fooled” by Alonso’s argument that he wasn’t aware of the fix.

“I’ve never heard a driver talk such bullshit.  He has no character,” said Austrian great Lauda.

Dr Helmut Marko, under fire for some recent decisions at Red Bull, revelled in the change of fortune.

“It is unbelievable how awkwardly they demonstrated who is their number one.  The FIA must react with a drastic punishment,” he is quoted by Blick.

The Swiss newspaper’s correspondent agreed: “There are different ways for Alonso to return to the throne.  Lying and cheating should not be one of them.”

Even the usually partisan AS newspaper remarked: “Alonso deserved to win the German grand prix, but not like this.  Domenicali has confirmed his true ineptitude by giving Massa obvious team orders that are prohibited by the rules.”

Said Brazil’s Folha de S.Paulo: “It was an insult to the sport.”

Rio de Janeiro’s Lance added: “We regret writing it, but from Massa it was a lack of courage.”

Rubens Barrichello, whose move for Michael Schumacher in 2002 motivated the team order ban, said: “I will speak to Felipe myself.  Nothing has changed at Ferrari.

“I think you can read my opinion better from my face,” he stormily told Brazilian radio Jovem Pan.

Said French newspaper Liberation: “Ferrari is a team unlike another; when not undermined by political intrigue, they shoot themselves in the foot.”

La Libre wondered how the FIA is going to react at the World Motor Sport Council: “Would Jean Todt dare punish his old team for a practice he applied himself?  We honestly doubt it.”

Another side of the story is what Renault’s customer engine boss Fabric Lom described on Europe 1 radio as the “hypocrisy” of the current regulations.

Agreed Italy’s Corriere dello Sport: “It is fair to recognise that the problem is in the regulations.”

Rome daily Il Tempo said Ferrari “did the right thing in the wrong way”, and Spain’s El Mundo said the team order ban is “a regulation that penalises team interests”.

Italy’s Autosprint marvelled that Ferrari was “fined for teamwork!”

Said Britain’s Telegraph: “Ferrari were caught and they must pay.  But the rule is unenforceable.  To pretend otherwise is deluded.”

Mercedes’ Norbert Haug does not quite agree: “We need to think of the spectators.  They want to see fights on the track, not these actions.

“The different teams have different attitudes about team orders.”

To the Spanish press, Alonso argued: “The ones who pay us are the team, not the newspapers or anyone else, and now Ferrari is taking 43 points back to Italy.

“And that is what we have to do — what is best for the team.  On Friday I was faster, I was second in qualifying and faster than Felipe in the race.  I don’t think the slower driver won this race,” he added.