Ferrari: What you think

Should Ferrari have issued team orders? vote now!



As a life long Ferrari supporter I am able to forgive the Ferrari team many sins, such as favouring one driver, but I am not able to forgive them for their shockingly unsporting behaviour at Austria. My only hope now for the season is that Juan Pablo kicks Red butt.
Matthew Gardner

We Brazilians are proud about Barrichello's attitude. He was professional. What happens when a soldier doesn't follow the general rules?
Rodrigo Sampaio

What a sham! What a farce! Delighted to see that the Austrians and assembled international sports fans can spot a bad scam when they see one. If large proportions of the crowd are booing then that defines a moment when the sport has been brought into disrepute.
Jonathan Field

My advice to everyone out there in Britain who has tickets for the British GP at Silverstone this year, is to tear them up now and go to the Rockingham 500 CART Race in September. Thats what I'm doing, and I know I'll be guaranteed not only a more exciting race, but one that is fair where the winner actually deserves it...
Tim Redmayne

M. Schumacher's good fortune may turn bad at any time and it would be very silly if they lose the championchip for not taking this decision on the Austrian GP. I think they did the right job!
Azizi Zaza

If Ferrari's actions, actions that can cause me to question what the sport that has captivated me from about the time I could walk upright is all about, are not considered to be bringing the sport into disrepute by the FIA; then I do not know what is.
John Murphy

I'm a F3 driver myself in China. I think auto racing is sport for the whole team or else why would you have two cars in a team for each race? I also think Ferrari is doing the right thing of asking Michael to take number one position if you are shooting for the world champion title. Maybe it would look little better if he passed Ruben a bit earlier.
David Louie

Imagine a repeat of Michael Schumacher's 1999 Silverstone accident, and in the end, Rubens losing out on the championship by 3 points...
P D McLellan

As a Brazilian, it's very hard to come to terms with what we saw on Sunday. Our tradition in racing should be worth a little more than that. I can tell you that I will take some time off from F1 racing. Don't want to see it, don't want to hear about it for a while. And I hope that a good part of the 170 million brazilians do the same.
Marcelo Teixeira

What is the big deal? We have two-car teams here, the team owners put two drivers in their cars, its entirely up to the owners as to the tactics used. This sort of thing has been going on since motorsport started and look at the crazy things pro cyclist teams do to help favoured riders. As usual massive media overkill obscures the real issues, ie. Ferrari have invested 100s of millions and there ain't no room for sentiment, no matter how nice for the armchair enthusiast a Barrichello victory may have been.
Mark Jukes

Nobody complained when Moss won at Aintree in 1957 by jumping into Tony Brooks' car on the 18th lap. And more recently, nobody flinched when Colin McRae earned his first points in this year's Rally Championship via team orders. Ferrari could have easily fudged things for us and have Schumacher "overtake" Barrichello cleanly, and we would have been none the wiser. But within the rules of motorsport they were 100% entitled to do what they did and did not feel like truly cheating with phoney overtaking.
Athanassios G. Tolis

Remember the furore after Coulthard let Hakkinen past at Melbourne in 1998? If memory serves the FIA came out saying 'That's quite enough of that!' and that there would be penalties if it happened again, except where the championship was at stake for one driver. I doubt the FIA had in mind that any team would seek to argue that the championship was at stake for one of its drivers just six races into the season.
Andrew Thornton

Gerhard Berger said that the result was "unfair and very, very wrong" - but I did not hear him complaining at Suzuka 1991 - when Senna moved over to let Berger win, in the same fashion.
Philip Burnham

The last few metres of Sundays race must go down in the list of all time unsporting behaviour, similar to Mike Tyson biting Evander Holyfield's ear.
Ian Marshall

Here we go again with the usual anti- Schumacher propoganda. Whilst I totally agree that Ferrari made a grave error of judgement (which ruined as far as I am concerned the whole weekend) I find the British press insulting in their comments and assumptions that Michael effectively made the decision.
Diana Harding

Bernie said it's only the mis-managed teams who are feeling the pinch at the moment. Presumably the more successful teams receive a bigger slice of the TV revenue cake. After Sunday's performance the cake's about to get a lot smaller.
Clive Rose

We may as well all give up watching as there is no excitement in spending two hours to reach a foregone conclusion, especially if you pay £12 to watch the Sky F1 interactive coverage. Perhaps they could make it really interactive and we could choose our own winner, just like Ferrari do!
Stephen M Gussin

I have never been a big Schuey-fan but everyone should keep in mind that the guy just did what his employer ordered him to. Because, dear people, in the end Michael Schumacher is nothing more than a (highly paid) Fiat/Ferrari employee.
Dennis Keyner

Boring races, teams bitching at each other and then a driver having to deliberately throw a victory away - It really does not make sense. I have long been a fan of Ferrari and have been so incensed by what I saw that I am going to post all my Ferrari memorabillia back to them!
Alison Eastwood

I haven't been to see a GP in 2 years because of the shameful way that F1 treats its followers. I will be enjoying the Rockingham 500 this year - real racing!
Gavin Smith

As far as Barrichello is concerned Ayrton Senna would have turned in his grave if he would have known how low one of his fellow countrymen could go. Shame on them all!
Colin Wild

Schumacher says it wasn't his decision and he wasn't happy carrying it out. Well, keep your foot off the loud pedal then matey. He did consciously overtake Rubens, no-one forced him to.
Andrew Smith

Yesterday evening on TV was a commercial from Vodafone, the theme of which was Rubens' voicemail saying he wasn't available to take the call as he was at work. Me thinks he will be getting a lot of voicemail messages over the coming days. I wonder if any of Ferraris sponsors feel cheated by the negative publicity? Mr Vodaphone might just be asking what £21m gets you these days.
David Chadd

I can only assume Jean Todt lost the remote control for Ruben's car. Otherwise I don't think the fix would have been so blatant.
Colin Worthington

F1 has made if abundantly clear that it doesn't give a damn about the fans who are responsible ultimately for funding its existence. It's arrogant behaviour is unforgivable and this is epitomised by the man laughing called the "greatest F1 driver ever". Greatest statistically maybe, but in my opinion one of the poorest sportsmen sport has ever had the misfortune to see.
Nick Done, ex-F1 fan

Two or three years ago, Barry Green in the CART Championship refused to issue Team orders to Paul Tracy to let Dario Francitti by for the win. This was in a very tight championship race and only two or three races from the end. After the final race, Dario was level on points with JPM and lost on the number of wins. Did I think Mr. Green looked stupid? No. He was a true sportsman. Obviously there are none of those left at Ferrari - except maybe Rubens Barrichello.
Scott McNeil

Right now, the only thing that keeps me from being completely and utterly ashamed as a Ferrari fan, is the fact that Enzo Ferrari will be turning in his grave as we speak...
Jon Edgar

Ross Brawn: "We told the drivers not to race each other." and "That's not a race." Indeed it wasn't - I thought the whole idea was that racing drivers in racing cars go motor racing.
Daniel Lyus

ITS ALL PART OF THE SPORT! The hard but true fact is that you race to win. We may not like it to happen this way but it can and does happen from time to time. It's big a money sport and it's what makes this sport so great! If some of these so called top teams took the same hard but within the rules decisions, then maybe they to might be the ones at the top and enjoying the chance to play team tactics.
John Fryer

I have been a motor racing employee, club driver and spectator all my life and have never ever been moved to write to Autosport but yesterdays debacle was a disgusting incident which brings the sport? into disrepute. I had a lot of sympathy for Rubens before the race but he has now shown his true colours. As for Schuey's action of taking this win I now believe he will never be regarded along side the greats
Russell Davison.

Given Ferrari's domination of this current crop of cars there can be no justification for taking away Ruben's rare and thoroughly deserved win. By doing so Ferrari have insulted the millions who watch, all of whom I'm sure were delighted for Rubens to win the Austrian GP. Disgracefull, disrespectfull and arrogant...all good reasons to give this sport a miss.
Arthur Abrahams

I believe Ferrari have scored an appalling own goal for the sport. I would not be surprised if viewing figures for the sport (if you can call it a sport these days) plummet for the rest of the season.
Phil Andrews

They have no regrard for the paying public, for the sponsors, for their image, just for their own conceit, arrogance and greed. Boycott Silverstone now to show the smug millionaires what we the public really think.
Trevor Brittain

Has Rubens Barrichello been shrewder than it may appear, by moving over for Michael this time? He's clearly got to grips with the new car as well as, if not better than Michael, and if the same situation is repeated at Monaco (hardly unlikely), would Todt insist he move over again? Particularly after the reaction in Austria? I suspect the longer-term outcome of this decision will actually be a strengthening of Rubens' position at Ferrari, and his chances of succeeding Michael as number one (one day!)
Lance Lee

An 'ugly' end to a great race. Still disappointed to see the reaction of the press, though. Sure, the spectators were angered but I expected seasoned journalists to have a more rounded and pragmatic view. You seem to have fallen victims to 'sensationalism' and Big Headings more frequently seen in The Sun. What did you expect ? Ferrari have always been honest and open enough about their strategy and entered this race with one driver on 44 points and the other with less than 10. At the end of the day, the rules are very clear on this and Ferrari are playing within those rules.
Meletis Xigakis

I believe that given the current rules Ferrari are totally justified. Let's not kid ourselves as to why they are racing in the first place. It's certainly not philanthropic!Let's face it,it's added some juice and controversy to what was turning out to be a foregone conclusion.
Jonathan Lee

I for one will be switching off my TV in future. After twenty years of dedicated viewing, I have no interest in seeing Schumacher "gifted" another title.
Stephen Schulze

Ferrari and Passion are no longer synonymous words. Ferrari and Cynical Commercialism perhaps? How about Ferrari and The Muppet Show?
Rob Patrick

One shudders at the thought that Ferrari might turn F1 into the WWF... Drivers should stand up and say "no - this is not right". Michael Schumacher has enough 'clout' in the paddock to turn around to Ferrari and say no, this is not how I want to win races and the championship
Andrew Shearman

Japan '91, Japan '97 and Malaysia '99 are examples of races where team tactics served only to heighten the drama, so such orders do have their place in F1. I feel that team orders should be deemed acceptable, but only once a team-mate is mathematically out of championship contention. Yesterday Rubens, on 6 points with a further 110 to play for, was clearly anything but.
Rehan Ali

In a week that F1 was talking about how to improve the 'show' to increase the marketable image, I think that Ferrari has done the sport a grave disservice. The interview that Ross Brawn gave on TV saying that they were not racing all day shows how little they value the fans and view of the public and sponsers. Is it not normal for drivers who 'bring the sport into disrepute' to be banned for a race? The FIA should do the same to Ferrari NOW!
Simon Dukes

No matter how Ferrari try to justify their position, what they have in effect achieved is a contrived result. Hansie Cronje and others were pilloried for their actions in cricket and so should Ferrari.
Andrew Shearman

Michael Schumachers' crocodile tears on the podium and in the press conference afterwards were in my opinion the actions of a man who has not a shred of self-respect left.
Neil Morley

Once a keen fan, maybe a F1 nut, I have recently been able to take it or leave it. I can honestly say that yesterdays debacle was the last time I will ever be interested.
Tim Holloway

I'm not unhappy with Ferrari (or any team for that matter) issuing team order per se, what I'm more unhappy about is the way in which it was done. I feel that Ferrari, and particularly their drivers, have let F1 down badly. Their antics on the podium were, frankly, ridiculous.
Chris Barnett

In an age when a driver such as Jacques Villeneuve is formally censured by the FIA for simply speaking his mind, then surely what Ferrari did on Sunday is by any definition a nailed-on case of "bringing the sport into disrepute". In my opinion Ferrari should lose all points gained from the Austrian GP, and also be banned, as a whole team, for one GP.
Mark Grainger

Yesterday's race was the closest to the 20th anniversary of Gilles Villeneuve's accident. I was hoping for a tribute from Ferrari, and up to the last corner, it looked like the best possible tribute. I cannot believe that the team Gilles drove for with such passion and integrity pulled off this disgrace. Shame on you Ferrari!
Emile Naus

Everyone seems to be missing the point about team orders - everything Ferrari has said in its defence makes sense. I believe the real issue is that Schumacher is hiding behind 'team orders' to excuse what must be one of the the most unsporting acts in motor racing history, if he had ignored the order, ferrari would have said and done nothing to their number one driver.
Bob Shires

We hear Max Mosley often threaten individual drivers with sanctions if they act in a manner that brings disrepute upon the image of Formula 1, yet in my opinion the actions of Ferrari at Austria did more to damage the image of Formula 1 as a SPORT than any previous driver action current or retired.
Rory Johnson

Schuey's comments that he was responding to team instructions simply do not hold water. We all know who controls the Ferrari Formula 1 effort, and it's not Todt, Brawn or di Montezemolo, it is Michael Schumacher, and if he wanted Rubens to take the win, then it would have been so. But to take the win, when he need not have, and then go through the insulting farce on the podium of standing his stooge on the top step and giving him the winners trophy, demeans him, his team, and worst of all, the sport he is supposed to care for. And to make matters worse, all at a time when Formula One needs all the friends and support it can get. This was one greed-driven win too many, both for Michael Schumacher and our sport.
Rod Hunter

Item 48 of the FIA sporting regulations state: "If in the opinion of the Formula One Commission a competitor fails to operate his team in a manner compatible with the standards of the Championship or in any way brings the Championship into disrepute, the FIA may exclude such competitor from the Championship forthwith." I hope Ferrari get the penalty they deserve. Exclusion from 2002 Championship.
Earl Alexander

For the sake of the sport I have voted that Ferrari was wrong to order the result. However I feel very strongly that this was a natural result of their team development and was entirely within the rules of the sport if not the spirit. For Michael to say that the decision was a surprise and one that he didn't agree with is to assume that the public are ill-informed at best and stupid at worst. I now live in Cologne, a few kilometers from the Schumacher home and I can assure you that he has lost much of the respect he fought so hard for.
Richard Abbott

I find it unbelieveable that given the already dismal state of "racing" in F1 currently, that Ferrari should chose to reduce the spectacle still further. It is a sad day indeed, that what should be the pinnacle of motorsport has been reduced to the farcicle status enjoyed by professional wrestling. The flood of lost viewers will be followed by a tidal wave of lost sponsors.
Patrick Gunning

I think Ferrari embarrassed themselves and their drivers by their actions at the Austrian race and made a mockery of grand prix racing, this was obvious by Schumachers actions on the podium when booed by the fans. The FIA slould be ruling that this kind of action is not acceptable the paying public who now feel cheated as Barrichelo was the best driver all weekend.
Bryan Grieve

I'm thoroughly disgusted and deeply saddened by Ferrari's decision to ask Barrichello to step aside allowing Schumacher the victory at the Austrian GP. It's a humiliation to the sport and to the Ferrari name. I sincerely doubt that Enzo Ferrari would have approved. I can only hope that Ferrari will re-evaluate their team politics as a result and open the door for true racing competition. If anything, they owe an apology to all F1 racing fans.
Matt Bargell

While I do not agree with how it was managed, I think Sunday's finish was justified and even inevitable. F1 is the pinnacle of extremes: no expense or effort spared to reach a winning position. This strategy is just a logical, and lamentable, extension of this "push every boundry" ethos. Sad to see though and an awful PR disaster for Ferrari.
Brian O'Loughlin

Formula 1 is always concerned about it's Image. Any Image it had vanished on sunday 12th May 2002.
Formula 1, R.I.P
Martin Snarey

Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosely take note. I am 33 and have watched every F1 Grand Prix since the age of 5. For years I have been concerned at the lack of spectacle provided by my favourite sport, since most of the excitement occurs at pit stops and not on the track. Watching Ferrari orchestrate the result of the Austrian GP in the most despicable manner on Sunday was the final straw for me and I will no longer be taking an active interest in F1 racing. If F1 is now losing dyed-in-the-wool fans like me then I believe the sport has died and cannot be revived.
Steve Leaper