Alonso: Row hasn’t diverted Ferrari focus

Taken from here

Fernando Alonso says Ferrari has not been distracted by the ongoing team orders controversy and is instead fully focussed on ensuring it keeps the performance momentum up from its Hockenheim 1-2 in Hungary.

The Italian squad has been in the centre of a media storm since Felipe Massa moved aside to let Alonso win last Sunday’s race and has faced a barrage of criticism from drivers and team principals at rival squads for clearly breaking the team orders regulations.

Alonso remained largely tight-lipped about the incident in his pre-race press briefing at the Hungaroring on Thursday, simply insisting that both he and the team were only thinking about how to perform strongly this weekend after its resounding display in Germany.

“Hungary is our main target now,” he told reporters. (more…)

Happy 29th Brithday Fernando

Dear Fernando

Happy Birthday dear hope you have a good birthday and a good race at the Hungaroring! Please make it one worth watching!

Anyway have a good one and don’t eat to much cake

Love

Claire x

Hungarian GP Preview – Stefano Domenicali, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso

First of all anymore stupid comments on this website or hater comments will not be published on this site and before you ask why it’s because they are lame! I’ve said how I felt but at the same time there’s another race this weekend and I’m SURE it’ll go on and on and on and I don’t care!

(even though this following video makes me want to smack Stefano in the face)

Ferrari fined $100,000 but result stands

Aricle taken from the BBC

Ferrari have been fined $100,000 for breaching sporting regulations after appearing to implement team orders during the German Prix.

The Italian team has also been referred to the sport’s governing body, the FIA, after Felipe Massa slowed down to allow team-mate Fernando Alonso past to win.

However the result of the race, won by Alonso from Massa, is unaffected.

Ferrari continued to insist the incident was “a driver decision” and no instructions were given to Massa.

Team communications director Luca Colajanni said: “We didn’t give any instruction at all. I don’t think anything wrong has been done, or regulation breached.”

Colajanni added: “Fernando was slightly quicker at that stage, and we informed the drivers.”

Immediately following the race, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali had suggested he did not think the instruction apparently issued by Massa’s race engineer Rob Smedley would be an issue with the FIA.

Smedley’s exact words to Massa were: “OK, so, Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?”

Massa, who finished second behind race winner Alonso, did not reply, but a few seconds later slowed his car on the exit of Turn Six, allowing Alonso to easily overtake.

Smedley then came back on the radio and clearly used the word: “Sorry”. Then, at the end of the race Smedley told Massa he had been: “Very, very, very magnanimous” in his actions.

However, Smedley subsequently suggested to BBC Sport he had not been apologising for ordering Massa to let Alonso past.

He said: “I was pushing [Massa], because I was telling him that he’s faster and he had to get on with it, and I was giving him the gaps, and you’re always talking in tenths of a second, and the apology is just because I’m sorry it’s happened, I’m sorry he’s got past, and there you go, but we’re still in the pound seats, we’re still in P2, so keep pushing and hopefully keep Sebastian [Vettel] behind you.”

At the post-race news conference, Massa himself carefully avoided giving a specific explanation of the incident.

Asked whether it had been a driving error on his part that had enabled Alonso to pass, the Brazilian said: “He passed me. The only thing I feel is we’re working for the team, and doing a very good job for the team, and that’s the most important thing.”

However he did say he felt he had deserved to win the race.

“I think so. The start was just fantastic and also the pace on the soft tyres was really great and then I was struggling a little bit on the hard tyres, but anyway a very good race for us.”

But later, talking to BBC Sport, Massa said it had been his decision to let Alonso through.

“For sure, we always need to think that we are working for the team, and we didn’t have team orders in the race. I take my decision because I was struggling on the hard tyres.”

Asked if Alonso had been faster, Massa replied: “I think everybody saw, no?”

Alonso, who when following Massa earlier in the race had told his team over the radio: “Guys, this is ridiculous,” also insisted there had been no team orders.

He said: “I was surprised when I saw Felipe had a problem, I thought it was a gear problem at the exit of turn six.

“At the end we are professional drivers, we work for Ferrari, they pay us, and we gave them 43 points today.”

When asked if he felt embarrassed, he said: “Same. What is important is the team result.”

(more…)

WTF : My thoughts on the German Grand Prix

OK so I know having a Fernando site i’m going to get a lot of lame comments from people who don’t see Ferrari as a team but just as Fernando and I’m sure people are going to call Fernando a cheat even though it wasn’t Fernando who told Massa to slow down and let him pass!

ANYWAY I’m not happy about what happend today it’s a fucking joke!  They should have let Fernando pass Mass in the race way. I gave up watching F1 for these sort of tactics due to The Chin winning all the time.

Massa should have been allowed to race in my opinon as if Fernando was slower he could have passed him and then to let Rob Smedly tell Massa to more or less slow down THAT WAS A COP OUT! The team boss should have done it!

But yes I’m not seeing this as a FAIR win for Fernando he’s a racer and he didn’t become two time champion with using such ways. He could have passed Massa easly given time it runined the race for me and yes Ferrari did cheat and to me it was unfair on both drivers and I hope the FIA do something about this! Ferrari as a team  need to work together and I’d have liked to have seen Fernando work for the win.

I don’t know I don’t want Ferrari to do this again it happend to much with The Chin and I don’t want to think of Fernando winning in such ways. If this is how it’s going to be then I’m not going to be a F1 fan . It’s not the way to win a championship and I hope the FIA take a look in this and I’m sure a lot of stuff will come out over the week which I shall post .

But seriously F1 and Ferrari don’t need to go down this road again and if any Fernando fan thinks this was a good win then you need to learn what racing is!

Please feel free to comment your thoughts so we can have a debate and please give them in English thanks!

EDIT :: BREAKING NEWS: Race stewards talking to Ferrari and also looking into “technical irregularities” on Red Bull and Ferrari front wings

For more info the BBC have this page which will be updated when more news come in http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8852918.stm

EDIT 2 :: Ferrari has been fined $100,000 and referred to the World Motor Sport Council for team orders and bringing sport into disrepute

German Qually Results

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	1:15.152	1:14.249	1:13.791	22
2	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:14.808	1:14.081	1:13.793	22
3	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:15.216	1:14.478	1:14.290	24
4	6	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	1:15.334	1:14.340	1:14.347	25
5	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:15.823	1:14.716	1:14.427	23
6	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:15.505	1:14.488	1:14.566	20
7	11	Robert Kubica	Renault	1:15.736	1:14.835	1:15.079	23
8	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1:16.398	1:14.698	1:15.109	25
9	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	1:16.178	1:15.018	1:15.179	25
10	10	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1:16.387	1:14.943	1:15.339	22
11	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	1:16.084	1:15.026		18
12	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:15.951	1:15.084		12
13	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1:16.521	1:15.307		17
14	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:16.220	1:15.467		16
15	22	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1:16.450	1:15.550		11
16	17	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	1:16.664	1:15.588		14
17	16	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	1:16.029	1:15.974		15
18	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	1:17.583			12
19	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	1:18.300			11
20	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1:18.343			6
21	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	1:18.592			10
22	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	1:18.952			3
23	20	Sakon Yamamoto	HRT-Cosworth	1:19.844			11
24	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	No time

FIA post-qualifying press conference – Germany

Drivers: 1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), 1m 13.791s; 2. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), 1m 13.793s; 3. Felipe Massa (Ferrari), 1m 14.290s

Q: Sebastian, congratulations. Your third pole in a row. Your first in your home event and by such a small margin as well.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, it would be interesting to calculate how much it is, two thousands of a second. It was very, very close. All session Fernando was really strong and in general the Ferraris are very competitive here. We knew it would be a difficult session but two thousands of a second is not really the margin you are looking for, so we had to push very hard. It was extremely exciting especially Q3. I knew that both times I had only one lap to get it right here. There are some places that lead you easily into a mistake, so it was close. You push a little too much and you lose the edge of the tyres and then you start to feel you are losing the time, so my last run wasn’t 100 per cent perfect. I had a little bit here and there where I went a little bit above the limit and it cost a little bit of time but in the end it was enough by nearly nothing to stay ahead and get on pole. So extremely happy. First time on pole at home, but the main challenge will come tomorrow. I think we do have a very strong car here and it will be a tough fight against the red cars I guess.
Q: You were the first of the leading competitors to go out for the final run, so it was a nervy wait. Do you think that might have been a mistake as the track does get quicker?
SV: Yeah, the track does get a little quicker towards the end but it is not much. You could possibly argue it is not two thousands of a second or something like that. It is very small. We wanted to go out and wanted to make sure we got a clean run and especially a clean preparation with the out-lap without any traffic, so I could time myself and bring the tyres in the way I wanted to. It worked well, so in the end we put the car on pole. So we did everything right but it is not a nice feeling when you cross the line and you see the screen on the dash and you see the screen passing and you know that you are on top, currently P1 is being said on the radio, and then you just go down the straight line praying ‘please, please, please let it be enough’. Then obviously I got the call from the team that we did it. But when I got the call that I did it by two thousands of a second I was even more relieved. It was very close but I didn’t guess that close. It was an exciting session for the people and it is good to be here. A lot of people for yesterday and today, so hopefully there will be more cheering for all of us tomorrow.

Q: Fernando, I don’t know whether to say congratulations on your best qualifying of the season or commiserations that you missed out by such a margin.
Fernando Alonso: I think we have to be happy. We are on the first row of the grid for the first time this season, so that is definitely a step forward for us. We have been very competitive all weekend, very competitive with the car, very happy with the car in Q1, Q2 and Q3, so finally we made a perfect Saturday. Obviously we lost pole position for a very small margin but this is not important. The points are tomorrow, Sunday not Saturday, so stay focused for tomorrow and repeat a good day tomorrow after a good day today and try to score as many points as possible and definitely going in the right direction. In the last two or three grands prix massive step forward for the Ferrari team. Now both here in the top three, so this is the way we have to continue and keep improving.

Q: Because you have been so competitive and because you were quickest in Q1 and Q2 did you expect when you had provisional pole before the final lap that you would go on and secure that top spot?
FA: No, not really. We expect always the Red Bulls in Q3 to give something more. Sometimes we saw this. Very close in free practice, close in Q1 and Q2 and then Q3 Red Bull half a second in front of everybody. I was expecting a very strong reaction in Q3 from Red Bull and a very tough competition and we are in a way surprised to be that close and finally fighting for a pole position after 10 races. It took a little bit long but now we are very close.

Q: Felipe, great to see you back in the top three for the first time since Bahrain. You must be delighted with your performance.
Felipe Massa: Yeah, I think it was a good performance from us. It was a very tough qualifying. In Q3 anyway I couldn’t put all the sectors together. I could have been a little bit better but anyway I think they were very strong but also happy to be back on the top three and even more focused for the race tomorrow. I hope we can do a good job and score as many points as possible for the team and for ourselves as well. The race is tomorrow and the position on the grid is quite good.

Q: Talking of the race. You qualified ahead of the second Red Bull in Mark Webber, so you will be trying to fend him off for as long as possible.
FM: Yeah, we fight to everybody. When you are in front of not just Mark, but many other cars like both McLarens as well and Mercedes, so it is a car that on some tracks can be very strong. We are there and we just need to try to be in front of everybody tomorrow, have a good race, a good fight and it will be interesting.

Q: Sebastian, looking ahead to tomorrow’s race. It is not your team-mate alongside you. I don’t know if that makes you smile or not but Fernando will give you a tough race I am sure.
SV: Surely, but unlike Silverstone here the clean side is really worth quite a bit. Fernando and myself in the last race were quite surprised by the bad grip that we had on the clean side, so here it should be good for us and we have a very strong car. It is very close to the Ferraris but usually we have a decent pace in the race. It is a long race, anything is possible. We start from the best position, so we could not have done any better today but now we are looking forward to tomorrow, that is the main target. It is nice to be here in the middle on Saturday but in the end there is no real reward except going to sleep with a good feeling but we need to confirm it tomorrow. That is the objective.

(more…)