Jenson Button predicts Ferrari will be penalised, not the drivers at today's hearing on Fernando Alonso's controversial German Grand Prix victory

Button predicts Ferrari will be penalised in today's hearing

Jenson Button predicts Ferrari will be penalised, not the drivers at today's hearing on Fernando Alonso's controversial German Grand Prix victory

Alonso faces the prospect of being stripped of his controversial German Grand Prix victory as Ferrari stand accused of using team orders, which are banned in Formula One, to engineer the result.

Jenson Button Pic/Getty Images

Should such a punishment be meted out, Alonso would drop be 66 points adrift of current championship leader Lewis Hamilton instead of 41.

Even with 150 points still up for grabs with six races remaining, Alonso's chances of becoming a triple world champion, to add to the titles he won in 2005 and 2006, would be severely damaged.

The smart money, however, is on a fine ufffd in addition to the 100,000 US dollars already paid after the stewards decreed they had broken the rules ufffd and a points penalty for the team rather than the drivers.

That would ensure the team were punished rather than the drivers, who were merely acting upon orders from above.

That point was emphasised by reigning champion Jenson Button, who told Press Association Sport: "I don't think the drivers will get a penalty.

"If they do get another penalty it will be for the team because it was an order from the team. Personally I don't understand why they just don't swap the points around for those two, but you can't do that within the regulations."

Ferrari's argument will centre on the fact that no explicit order was given to Felipe Massa for him to cede the lead, and eventually the win, to Alonso.

Team orders
Instead, Massa was simply told twice by engineer Rob Smedley over the pit-to-car radio that Alonso was faster than him, the message repeated as the Brazilian did not respond to the initial remark.

The inference behind the wording was clear for all to interpret, although had it not been for Smedley's subsequent messages, the furore that followed the race may have been avoided.

After Massa slowed out of the hairpin at Hockenheim on lap 49 to allow Alonso by, Smedley then said: "Good lad. Just stick with it now. Sorry."

After the race, and again via the radio, Smedley thanked Massa for being so "magnanimous", notably so as a year and a day previously the 29-year-old was almost killed in an accident in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Despite protestations of innocence from Alonso, Massa and team principal Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari were found to be in breach of article 39.1 of the FIA 2010 sporting regulations that states "team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited".

Ferrari were also charged with a breach of article 151c of the FIA international sporting code relating to "any fraudulent conduct, or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition, or to the interests of motor sport generally".

Ferrari are also likely to contend that despite the regulation, introduced after the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix when Rubens Barrichello allowed by Michael Schumacher for the win, team orders remain rife in F1.

The point is a moot one as no other team has been caught quite so obviously as Ferrari, whose coded messages were far from subtle.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, however, made the point teams should run their organisation as they see fit as F1 is a team sport.

"Nobody should interfere as to how they run their team," Ecclestone said.

The controversy
What had happened
Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix but only after Ferrari appeared to manufacture his win by instructing teammate Felipe Massa to pull over and allow the Spaniard to overtake with 18 laps to go. Following the controversial move, race engineer Rob Smedley was on the radio apologising to Massa. "Good lad - just stick with it now, sorry," said the Ferrari official.

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