Mosley Confident of Combating Team Orders

Max Mosley, the president of Formula One's governing body the FIA, believes they will be able to combat the use of team orders this season despite claims from the sport's top drivers that its ban cannot be policed.

This weekend marks the anniversary of the controversial team orders incident when Ferrari forced Rubens Barrichello to move over and hand victory at last year's Austrian Grand Prix to teammate Michael Schumacher on the final corner. The incident led to the introduction of a ban on team orders at the end of last year but Michael Schumacher and several other drivers claimed it will not be possible for the FIA to spot subtle team tactics this season.

Mosley admitted to several British newspapers that imposing the ban will be difficult but said: "We have two things that we did not have last year - a clear rule and we can listen to all radio commentaries.

"There is no way we can control what happens or what is decided in secret but we can draw an inference from somebody's actions on the track. If someone protests or a steward sees something they can still draw the inference that something is wrong and act accordingly."

Ferrari have continued to insist they will play a team game and will continue to act in a manner which will gain the team the best results but it is unlikely they will adopt any controversial tactics at this weekend's race. They were fined $500,000 (USD) for their actions last year and Mosley has issued a strong warning against any similar tactics that could ruin what will be the last race at the A1-Ring.

"We hope everyone will observe the rules to the letter this weekend," said Mosley. "And I hope that the people of Austria have a great race to make up for last year."