autosport.com wrote:Ferrari tell Renault to play it fair
By Jonathan Noble Friday, October 6th 2006, 09:04 GMT
Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn has urged title rivals Renault to not play it dirty with team orders in the final two races of the year.
With world champion Fernando Alonso having put the spotlight on team orders after claiming he should have been helped more in China, there is a growing spot interest in the role that Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa will play.
And although there is little doubt that both drivers will do everything they can to help their teammates, Brawn has warned that such assistance will be unacceptable if either of them starts adopting blocking tactics.
"What we mustn't have is the number two drivers blocking or intentionally slowing one of the championship contenders," said Brawn, whose team famously adopted such tactics in the 1997 Japanese Grand Prix to move Eddie Irvine up the order.
"It would be unfortunate and unacceptable. It is something I know we were involved in a few years ago and it was considered to be normal practice then, but it has been deemed to be unacceptable now, so we understand that.
"I think there is a certain level that is logical and fair and there is another level that has to be avoided because it is not correct."
Although team orders are officially banned from F1, following the outrage that Ferrari caused at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, Brawn has said he is sure that Massa will make a decision for himself about helping Schumacher.
"The difficulty is after the fuss of a couple of years ago, any team orders that influence the outcome of the race are not allowed. But that doesn't stop the driver making the decision.
"If you radio your driver and say: 'Please look after the engine, please look after the tyres, we want to make sure you finish the race', everyone could interpret that as a coded message that you have to back off.
"And you make out of that what you want. It is very difficult for Felipe to win a race and stop Michael from winning the championship. I don't think he would want to do it. And the same with Giancarlo."
Go ahead and hate on this if you want. When I first read it this morning, I knew someone was going to have something to say about it.
But what I've made bold says three things: (1) Ferrari acknowledges using team orders in the past, (2) Ferrari aren't going to be using them now, and (3) he just wants to see a fair fight to the finish.
And there's nothing wrong with any part of it.
Nnaaaaa....
