Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner was not impressed by Ferrari’s tactics in the German Grand Prix on Sunday, convinced that the winning team was breaking sporting regulations by adopting team orders.
The situation arose when leader Felipe Massa, who had headed the race since the start, was told via team radio that team-mate Fernando Alonso – running second – was quicker; the Brazilian duly handed the lead to the Spaniard by lifting off on Lap 49 of 67.
“I have to say, that’s probably the clearest team order I’ve ever seen – especially when you have a team apologising to a driver,” Horner, referring to Race Engineer Rob Smedley’s ‘Sorry’ comment, told BBC Sport. “It will be very interesting to see what the stewards make of it but for me it was just as it was in Austria in 2002.
“I think that it’s wrong, it’s wrong for the sport; the drivers should have been allowed to race - Massa did the better job, he was in the lead. The regulations are pretty clear; team orders aren’t allowed and it looked like a team order.”
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Christian Horner
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Fernando Alonso
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