Ferrari orders frustrate Horner as Red Bulls fade
Ferrari team orders mar German Grand Prix
Red Bull's Christian Horner has pointed the finger at Ferrari after a controversial move in Germany, which he described as the 'clearest team-order I've ever seen'.
While leading, Felipe Massa slowed to allow team-mate Fernando Alonso past – a manoeuvre questionable under the rules of the sport, and made even more contentious when Massa's race engineer was heard apologising to his driver over the team radio.
Team boss Horner said: "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."
"It will be very interesting to see what the stewards make of it.
"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."
The Milton Keynes-based team failed to take advantage of their early weekend pace, with Sebastian Vettel sluggish off the start line from pole position, leaving him third in an uneventful race for the German on home soil.
Team-mate Webber qualified fourth, but lost ground to both McLarens and crossed the line sixth.
Vettel bemoaned his start, but felt that third was a good outcome on home soil.
"Normally we have very good starts, so I'm not really sure what happened today," said Sebastian. "I had quite a lot of grip, I dumped the clutch, but got bogged down, so the first five to ten metres of the acceleration were poor. I was lucky I didn't stall the engine, but I lost the momentum so I knew that it would be very tight with Fernando who I was already side-by-side with.
"There was no way I could stay ahead of him and then I was surprised to see Felipe coming from the left. But after that we still had a good race."
Webber struggled for pace all afternoon in Germany and was hindered by oil consumption issues and forced to slow down.
He said: "I enjoyed the first part of the race and had a good scrap with Hamilton. When I came in for a pit-stop, I thought Lewis might come in at the same time, but he stayed out a lap longer.
"In the end, the guys did a very good job, but we came back out in traffic. It was a little bit of a gamble to try and jump Lewis and we lost a bit of track to him. Jenson tried a different strategy and went longer and unfortunately was able to jump me."
The team will now prepare for a quick turnaround, with just a week before the Hungarian Grand Prix.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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