MAY 15, 2002

The flood continues...

ONE would have thought that the reaction to Ferrari's actions in Austrian would have slowed by now but we are still receiving e-mails on the subject. The following are a representation of the e-mails we are still getting:

"While the Austrian result left an undeniably dirty taste in the mouth, if actions like this are outlawed teams will as, Ross Brawn I believe said, fix the result with a poor pit stop or another method. At no time did I see Schumi do other than shadow Barrichello and at no point did he make a serious effort to get past him. At present Alex Yoong has a better chance of winning a GP than Rubens." Martin Feldwick, Norfolk, UK

"Call me the Devil's advocate, but is it perhaps not better for the FIA to shrug off the whole issue of team orders? Say what you like about the decision that Ferrari took at Zeltweg, but at least they did it disingenuously and admitted to making the decision. They could have contrived the same result by other, more underhand and less obvious means. What they did do leaves a bad taste in the mouth, but perhaps it's the least of all the possible evils." Bob Dubery, Johannesburg, South Africa

"Nobody seems to have picked up on Mika yielding to DC last year at the last race. That race might have been Mika's last but he still let DC through to pick up the third podium spot even though DC already had the second place in the championship secured. Nobody seems to have complained about this and people thought it was a "good sporting action".

I thought it was tasteless." Tony Printezis, University of Glasgow, Scotland.

"I wish to protest in the strongest possible terms about the Barrichello disgrace on Sunday. I had a large bet on Barrichello and am naturally outraged." Ken Chadwick, UK

"Formula 1 was not conceived for the purpose of betting. If you want that try horse racing. And besides remember the rule: "Never bet on anything that can talk"." David Mingay, New South Wales, Australia

"Let's turn off our TVs world wide for the Monaco GP and show these men that they exist because we buy tickets, memorabilia and their silly magazines. Even this site exists because we the fans chose to read it." Joe Machado, Miami, Florida

"If this is what racing is coming to, I shan't be watching it anymore," Mervyn Sullivan, Darwin, Australia.

"The popular reaction to Ferrari's perfectly legitimate and sensible (not to mention utterly predictable) tactics was, for the most part, ill-informed, brainless and very depressing. If Ferrari is penalized for what happened on the track it will be a disgrace to the heritage of Formula 1, discrediting and embarrassing the sport. I suspect the FIA will see itself forced into some sort of compromise, by way of attempting to placate the more simple-minded fans of F1 (the ones that can't quite grasp the obviously deeply confusing concept that it is a TEAM sport), and punish Ferrari for Schumacher's antics on the podium; he may have refused the victor's trophy, but he certainly deserved an Oscar for that performance... " Will Serle, UK

"I found a quote from 1995 from Luca di Montezemolo: "I feel uncomfortable with some of the situations I encounter today in Formula 1." he said. "It is almost as if some people regard the sporting ethic as something optional." Pardon?" Anonymous.

"Ferrari fans must not be the ones to complain about the Austrian Grand Prix debacle. These are the same fans who defended the exact same thing some time back when Schumi was under pressure in the championship. If it was okay then... it should be okay now. The FIA has been so lenient with Ferrari that Ferrari have been become so

arrogant that they care less about the sport or what it stands for. When people think that they are bigger than the sport itself then it's time to lose those people. I cannot bring myself to support Ferrari at all in the future." Peter Wickham,

Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

"I am a lifelong supporter of the Scuderia, but I must say that Sunday's decision sickened me. In spite of all rationalizations to the contrary, my belief is that Barrichello proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he deserved to win the Austrian GP. To have his triumph snatched away on the basis of what amounts to a business decision seems to me

contrary to all the precepts of sport. It pains me greatly to say it, but Ferrari itself has been diminished in my eyes, and

I say "Ban the team from the British GP"." Jim Yeazel, Oswego, Illinois, USA

"This is a dark day in a love affair that goes back 30-some years for me. I will continue to follow F1 staying up to the wee small hours of every second Monday morning hoping that some of the class and style that we have associated with this sport for so long returns. Formula I owes it to its fans, but more importantly it owes it to itself." Scott Mulholland, Wellington, New Zealand,

"From this weekend I begin to dislike Ferrari. Micheal has already have a healthy lead over Montoya in the championship there is no need to hurt Ruben. This is a great shame for Ferrari." Kamran Ali Raja, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

"I was sitting in a bar in Hong Kong watching the final moments of the Austrian GP on Sunday with a couple of dozen other F1 fans. As you can imagine a collective groan was heard as car number 1 pipped car number 2 to the line by less than a second. I groaned too. I thought the whole situation was a farce...but I don't now. Today is Wednesday, I've listened and read opinions over the last three days, and I've changed my mind. Ferrari did the right thing. Ferrari has only one goal, and has only ever had one goal, and that is to win collectively the Constructors' and Drivers' championships. As a team. And that is exactly what they are doing. And boy, are they good at it. They are ruthless and single minded. They have a responsibility to their marque, their team, their drivers and their sponsors. If you want to bet on F1, go ahead at your peril. If you are a bookmaker, shorten the odds." Giles Blanchard, Hong Kong

"There is an Manufacters' Championship and a Drivers' Championship so Ferrari would have 16 points one way or the other. The Drivers Championship is something different so let the drivers fight it out on there own." Jarl Baas, Haarlem, Holland

"The only thing that Ferrari is guily of is poor timing. If Schumacher have overtaken Barrichello 10 laps or more before the end then we would all have forgotten it by the next race. It was the specticle of Barrichello slowing down metres before the finish line that sparked the emotional outburst." Niall Duffy, London, UK

"If the same thing happens in Monaco, I'll burn my Ferrari flag, throw away the shirts and books, and I will

certainly not watch the next race. Shame on you Michael." Daniel Hultberg, Gothenburg, Sweden

"We all know, and therefore should not be hypocritical, that Ferrari (and others) is not a team in the sense of sport and fun. Ferrari is a big company whose first interest it is to sell fast sportscars. The F1 competition is very good publicity, unless you lose." Harm Heijs, Merone, Italy

"My biggest hope is that Michael Schumacher will have to stop is season early for some reason, and Barrichello loses the title to a Williams boy by three points. I am not sure that the probability of this is lower than the probability of Michael Schumacher losing the title by three points, so why make such a damaging decision?" J Lecerf, Paris, France

"Sunday was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I was one of the thousands if not millions worldwide who lost money on Sunday's race. Any other sport in the world this would be known as cheating or fixing. Anyone want to buy a couple of tickets for Silverstone?" Neil Mackland, Aberdeen, Scotland

"To Hell with the gamblers! Since when is sport, or in this case the business of sport, been run for them! The solution is simple, if they don't like it, don't bet, or only bet on the winning manufacturer." Donald Murray, Australia.