Breaking news

Formula 1

Ferrari plays down Massa's team orders defiance

Felipe Massa: "Whatever happened in the race was not over any instruction; he [Alonso] overtook me on the track."

GMM

Edited: Oct 14, 2013, 1:36 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Felipe Massa, Ferrari

Oct.14 (GMM) Ferrari has played down Felipe Massa's refusal to obey a direct team order in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

While running ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso at Suzuka, Brazilian Massa - who is leaving Ferrari at the end of the season - was told by his engineer Rob Smedley to let the Spaniard past.

"Multi-function strategy A. Now, please," Smedley was heard to say on the radio.

Massa refused to either respond or obey, forcing Alonso to pass him in a wheel-to-wheel battle many laps later.

"We cannot make a big thing about it," Alonso said afterwards, hinting he understands Massa's frustration.

"Sometimes it's difficult, especially when you are fighting for seventh, eighth place.

"It would be nice to go back to the old days in Ferrari, fighting for first and second and deciding who wins the races, like Red Bull does," he added.

When quizzed about the 'Multi-function strategy A' command, which is eerily similar to Red Bull's infamous 'Multi-21', Massa readily admitted it was a team order that he refused to obey.

"It was an instruction," the Brazilian confirmed.

"We're never happy with instructions," added Massa. "Whatever happened in the race was not over any instruction; he overtook me on the track.

"We fought on the track," added reiterated.

He is quoted by Speed Week: "I have said several times now that I do not make presents. And I've said that I am racing for me -- I am doing my races."

Team boss Stefano Domenicali played down Massa's defiance.

"I can understand his feeling," he said. "The team will totally support him until the end of the season, no problem."

A controversy was also brewing within the dominant Red Bull team on Sunday, amid suspicions pole sitter Mark Webber's race was deliberately compromised when he was switched from a two to a three-stop strategy.

"All of a sudden we decided to do a three," the Australian, whose teammate Sebastian Vettel extended his winning streak, revealed.

"I was a little bit surprised. I asked was it the right thing to do."

Boss Dr Helmut Marko insisted, however, that the retiring Webber was not 'sacrificed' to help Vettel.

"No!" he told Germany's Bild am Sonntag.

"We chose during the race to change our strategy because we could not assess whether Grosjean is doing two or three stops.

"If we had done nothing, we would have been second and third," Marko added.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Pirelli renews quit threat amid push for tests

Next article Ferrari's de la Rosa admits 2014 car 'ugly' rumours

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

F1 Mexico GP: Follow FP2 with live timing

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

33 min

F1 Mexico GP: Follow FP2 with live timing

F1 Mexico GP: Charles Leclerc beats Kimi Antonelli to top FP1

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

2 h

F1 Mexico GP: Charles Leclerc beats Kimi Antonelli to top FP1

What Fernando Alonso is getting wrong about F1 driving standards

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

3 h

What Fernando Alonso is getting wrong about F1 driving standards

F1 Mexico GP: Follow FP1 with live timing

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

4 h

F1 Mexico GP: Follow FP1 with live timing

Feature

Discover prime content

What’s the state of play at F1’s smallest team?

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What’s the state of play at F1’s smallest team?

Is history really repeating itself? What Christian Horner’s Adrian Newey claim says about Aston Martin and Red Bull

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

Is history really repeating itself? What Christian Horner’s Adrian Newey claim says about Aston Martin and Red Bull

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts