Ferrari does it again

The Scuderia Ferrari team scored their second one-two finish of the season at Hockenheim circuit in Germany. Fernando Alonso won the German grand prix while his team-mate Felipe Massa followed in second. Although the domination of the two Ferraris was unquestionable, their final standings created a controversy.

The controversy- Massa was leading the race till lap forty nine, but after a message sent to him over the team radio, slowed down to let his team-mate pass while he himself settled for second. Ferrari’s team principal Stefano Domenicali denied the charges but said that his team will not appeal against the decision taken by the Formula One authorities. The stewards though were convinced of the manipulation and have charged the team with a one lakh US dollars fine and also notified the World Motorsport Council (WMSC). This is not the first time Ferrari has been involved in such a controversy. Back in 2002, Michael Schumacher passed Rubens Barrichello in the last few metres of the race as the latter was ordered to slow down over team radio.

Behind the Ferraris, team Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel took third at his home grand prix. The two McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and reigning champion Jenson Button finished fourth and fifth respectively. Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber was slightly off-colour as his car experienced an engine problem. Nevertheless he kept his ground and finished sixth behind Button with eight more championship points added to his tally.

The last four point earning places were fiercely contested and ended with team Renault’s Robert Kubica finishing seventh, MercedesGP driver Nico Rosberg in eighth followed by team-mate Michael Schumacher in ninth and Renault’s other driver Vitaly Petrov in tenth.

India’s Karun Chandhok was replaced by Sakon Yamamoto in team HRT’s car while Bruno Senna was back as their other driver. Team Force India, the other Indian link in the sport had a disappointing result with driver Vitantonio Liuzzi finishing sixteenth followed by his team-mate Adrian Sutil in seventeenth.

The complete list of standings is as follows: