Fernando Alonso led a Ferrari one two at the German Grand Prix but under a cloud of controversy. His team mate Felipe Massa appeared to be given orders to let Alonso come past.

Massa was told by his Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley over the team radio “Alonso is faster than you. Can you convert them you understand?” Shortly after wards Alonso slowed down through turn six and allowed Alonso through. This conversation was heard by all viewers watching on TV. Then following the move Smedley added “Good lad. Just stick with it now, sorry”. Ferrari insisted the incident was a driver decision and said no instructions were given to the drivers.

This controversy tainted what was in fact a dominant display by Ferrari as the Italian team were quicker than their rivals from Red Bull and McLaren. To the fans who watched the race at the track or on TV this took a lot of the excitement away from the race. However from a Ferrari point of view if they want to win the F1 championship then it is more likely that Alonso can win as Massa does not have enough points. There can only be one winner, and call this team tactics or not, Ferrari made a decision to allow Alonso to win the race.

Alonso has had a tough time recently with the F1 steward’s decisions and he needed as many points as possible get back intuit he title race. Former F1 champion Michael Schumacher said “I have been criticized in the past for doing exactly that and I have to say that I would do exactly the same if I was in the same situation. At the end of the day, what are we here for? It’s fighting for a championship and it is only one that can win it”.

At the end of the day many people watching the German Grand Prix will know with that be disgusted by what happened and feel that they were deprived of seeing two men race against each other and Apple it out to the finish. However the reality is that every team in the pit lane keeps the team orders and anyone who says they don’t
is lying.

F1 is a team sport and it is about the team winning but equally only one driver can win a championship and for Ferrari that one driver is Fernando Alonso.