A trio of respected paddock regulars have played down the latest twist in the saga surrounding Lewis Hamilton’s difficult weekend in Singapore recently. The McLaren driver’s 2008 title nemesis Felipe Massa accosted Hamilton during a television interview after their clash that cost the Briton a drive-through penalty. But it has now emerged that, prior to the collision, Massa’s Ferrari race engineer Robert Smedley told the Brazilian over the radio to “destroy” Hamilton’s race. “Hold Hamilton as much as we can,” Smedley is heard saying on the official edit of the race published at F1′s official website. “Destroy his race as much as we can. Come on, boy!” added Smedley. The news has triggered suggestions in the international media that Massa, who last year obeyed Smedley’s opaque instruction to move over for Fernando Alonso, may have followed another ‘team order’ in Singapore. But former driver and British television commentator Martin Brundle wrote on Twitter that he is sure Smedley wanted Massa to “wreck Hamilton’s strategy, not his car”. “Why would Massa damage his own car intentionally? “(The) real story is Smedley must constantly direct and motivate his driver (and) has done for some time,” said Brundle. Daily Telegraph correspondent Tom Cary agreed that the radio message saga is “much ado about nothing” rather than a “sinister” anti-McLaren plot by Ferrari. “He (Smedley) said it on an open radio channel after all,” he said, admitting however that Smedley’s use of the word ‘destroy’ was “ill-advised”. Livio Oricchio, a Brazilian journalist for the O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, also defended Massa and Smedley. “Anyone who understands how things work in formula one and have a modicum of common sense knows that reactions like that of Smedley are normal during a race and more frequent than you might think,” he said. “‘Destroy Hamilton’s race’ doesn’t mean ‘destroy Hamilton’, so the disclosure of the (radio) recording has no great meaning,” added Oricchio.

Ferrari race drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will address Wednesday’s FIA disciplinary hearing by video link.

It emerged last week that the pair, accused of obeying illegal team orders by swapping places at Hockenheim in July, had been summoned to the World Motor Sport Council session in Paris.

Reports indicated that the pair may appear in person or by video, probably from a location within Italy.

An article in the British newspaper Daily Telegraph, confirmed by the Maranello based team, said Alonso and Massa will be available to the FIA by video.

After Wednesday’s hearing, it is expected the verdict will be published later that day.

Team boss Domenicali and team manager Massimo Rivola, alongside the obligatory lawyers, are slated to be in attendance at the Place de la Concorde.

Alonso’s world championship chances are riding on the outcome, given his already 41 point deficit to leader Lewis Hamilton.

Should his Hockenheim points be deducted as a further penalty by the World Council, the Spaniard’s deficit – with six races left to run – would blow out to 70 points, because other championship contenders also stand to benefit.

Giorgio Beghella Bartoli, director of the Italian grand prix venue Monza, thinks Ferrari should escape sanction.

“As for the (team orders) regulation, an instruction (at Hockenheim) was not there,” he is quoted in Italian reports.

“Because an engineer (Rob Smedley) said ‘sorry’?  What kind of proof is that?” he insisted.

Livio Oricchio, an authoritative Brazilian journalist, went a step further, urging the FIA to scrap the team orders ban altogether.

“There is no way to control them.  Ending the ban respects the truth, therefore the fan.  And, as paradoxically as it may seem, the sport.

“On some occasions, the outcome of a race has been decided within a team and few people knew about it,” he wrote in his column in the Jornal da Tarde.

New radio evidence might indicate that Ferrari will have a difficult task convincing the FIA that it did not deploy illegal team orders at Hockenheim.

The famous Italian team will face the governing body’s new disciplinary panel in Paris in September, after Felipe Massa moved over for his teammate Fernando Alonso during the German race.

Until now, the only apparent evidence of the imposition of the team order was race engineer Rob Smedley’s radio call to his Brazilian driver: “Fernando – is – faster – than – you — can you confirm you understood that message”.

Smedley later apologised to Massa, telling the 29-year-old he was “very, very magnanimous”.

But new radio evidence would seem to reinforce suspicions that the “is faster than you” language was in fact a pre-arranged code that Massa understood as a direct order to pull over.

F1′s official website has published a video edit of the German race that depicts Smedley relay a conventional message to Massa about Spaniard Alonso’s superior pace.

“You need to pick up the pace, because Fernando is faster,” the British engineer is heard to tell Massa.

And another message to Massa during their genuine on-track battle was: “Pretty close here, he’s (Alonso) gonna go (through) — you’re going to have to defend”.

It has also been suspected that Alonso requested the team order, after he said “this is ridiculous” whilst trying to conventionally overtake his teammate.

And he is heard to say during the official video edit: “I am much faster than Felipe.”

His engineer Andrea Stella replied: “We got your message, we got your message.”

Flavio Briatore does not think Ferrari will be heavily punished by the FIA for the Hockenheim team orders affair.

The governing body is set to consider the matter no later than September 10 at its scheduled World Motor Sport Council meeting in Como, Italy.

Ferrari breached article 39.1 of the sporting regulations by ordering that Felipe Massa give way to German grand prix winner Fernando Alonso, and was also charged by the race stewards with bringing the sport into disrepute.

Former Renault boss Briatore was banned from F1 last year by the World Motor Sport Council for the Singapore crash scandal.

He told Italy’s Sky Sport 24: “This (team order) rule makes no sense and should be abolished.  Formula one is a team sport.

“I don’t believe Ferrari did anything wrong,” added the 60-year-old Italian.

“Fernando has more points than Massa and it is logical to bet on the driver with the best chance of winning the title.

“Could it have been better handled?  It’s easy to say so with hindsight, but during a race it’s different.

“It is however clear that Massa’s engineer (Rob Smedley) should not have made certain comments.  But only one guy can win the drivers’ championship.

“It is pointless to stand around being critical.  It is the rule that is completely absurd,” added Briatore.

He does not think Ferrari needs to worry about draconian penalties like exclusion from the world championship or race bans.

“The chairman of the World Council is Jean Todt, who managed Ferrari when in 2002 in Austria he ordered Barrichello to let Schumacher overtake at the chequered flag, so I think we can all relax,” laughed Briatore.

Ferrari has been fined $100,000 and now faces the wrath of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council.

A furore erupted after Sunday’s German grand prix, in which Felipe Massa moved aside for winner Fernando Alonso after the Brazilian’s engineer told him the Spaniard was faster.

Team management, and later the drivers, were summoned by the stewards, where Ferrari blankly denied the incident was a clear breach of the rule prohibiting result-altering team orders.

The result stands, but a report will be sent to the FIA’s decision-making council, due to the alleged team orders breach and a charge of disrepute.

Ferrari denies that race engineer Rob Smedley’s radio message to Massa prior to the Brazilian letting Alonso pass amounted to team orders.

“It was a driver decision,” said spokesman Luca Colajanni. “We didn’t give any instruction at all.”

Team boss Stefano Domenicali added: “He (Smedley) gave the information that he (Massa) was slower than the other car. We give the information, it is up to the driver to manage the situation.”

Massa confirmed that he had decided to let Alonso overtake.

“Yes (it was my decision). We do not have team orders. I was struggling on the hard tyres, as I have many times this year.”

And Alonso denied he knew about the team order.

“I thought it was a gear problem (on Massa’s car). When I saw him slowing down, I was surprised,” said the Spaniard.

Sunday’s German grand prix began amid a burgeoning flexible wing saga, and ended with a new scandal about team orders.

After a team one-two, and soaked in champagne, Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali was hounded in the Hockenheim pitlane by reporters accusing him of illegally ordering Felipe Massa to hand his victory to Fernando Alonso.

“This is not true,” Italian Domenicali told an angry Eddie Jordan on British television BBC.

Red Bull’s Christian Horner, earlier accused by his rivals of running an illegally-flexing front wing on the RB6 in Germany, said the FIA stewards should actually be probing Ferrari’s alleged rules breach.

“That was the clearest team order I’ve ever seen. As clear as 2002,” said the Briton, referring to the Austrian grand prix of that year, when then Ferrari team boss Jean Todt ordered Rubens Barrichello aside for Michael Schumacher.

Fascinatingly, Todt is now president of the governing FIA.

“The difference with 2002 was that there was no rule (about team orders) then,” said Jordan. “This is ten times worse.”

The alleged team order at Hockenheim began with Alonso pleading on the radio that sitting behind Massa was “ridiculous”.

Shortly afterwards, Massa’s engineer Rob Smedley told Massa on the radio: “Ok, so, ‘Fernando is faster than you’. Can you confirm you understand that message?”

Massa, 29, then deliberately slowed down on a straight and let Alonso pass.

But Domenicali denied Ferrari is therefore guilty of implementing team orders.

“To be honest, I don’t think so,” he said when asked if he thought the stewards would be looking into the incident.

Asked if he thought he deserved to win on Sunday, which is the one-year anniversary of his horror qualifying accident in Hungary last season, Massa answered: “Well, I think so.”

As for whether he deliberately moved aside, the Brazilian said: “Well, I don’t think I need to say anything about that. He passed me.”

So obvious was the team order, Smedley actually apologised – “good lad, sorry” – to Massa after the race.

“The apology is just that I’m sorry it happened, I’m sorry he (Alonso) came through,” Smedley, who also called Massa “very, very, very magnanimous” on the radio, explained to the BBC.

Alonso, despite asking on the slowing-down lap if Massa was ok, also denied he had been deliberately let through.

“I don’t know what happened; I saw Felipe a little bit slow and I took the opportunity,” said the Spaniard.

Massa added: “We work for the team, that’s the only thing I feel.”

Schumacher said he is still very close to his former Ferrari teammate Massa, but admitted he would have done “exactly the same” if he had been sitting on the pitwall on Sunday.

“In principle I fully accept it (team orders). There is only one target: winning the title,” said the seven time world champion.

In the championship, the McLaren drivers retain their lead over the now points-tied Red Bulls, ahead of Hockenheim winner Fernando Alonso.

The race director said after yesterday’s Grand Prix of Canada from Montreal in no penalty against Michael Schumacher, even though his friend Felipe Massa had just pushed very hard. But the duel of the two ex-teammates remained interpersonal consequences.

On the part Ferrari, there was certainly no allegation in the direction of seven times world champion: ‘I think Michael was perhaps a bit slow earlier because his tires not so great were. He braked much earlier than Felipe had expected it, and therefore, Felipe went back purely in it, “said race engineer Rob Smedley, Massa, the only angry about the potentially lost championship points.
Massa was in the final stages of the race to Schumacher minded and wanted to overtake the Mercedes chicane before the finish but Schumacher blocked until the inside line and then moved back to his racing line. He urged from Massa, who was at that time still on the road at full speed. The race stewards at Emerson Fittipaldi said, but made no speech.

Rightly, as Schumacher’s team boss Ross Brawn thinks: “Felipe was there perhaps a bit too ambitious, because Michael had no grip anyway,” said the Briton. “I see no sin upon him. It may be true that he has slowed down earlier, but that was just at the time and the place with his tires, brakes where he had to. I do not think there malicious intent behind it.”

(totalmotorsports)