Ferrari’s inner sanctum, strictly off-limits to all but the Prancing Horse team’s privileged hierarchy, must be a scene of dilemma and intrigue right now. The intrigue is how they will cope with the dilemma of Massa’s revitalised surge in the championship on the countdown to his stay with the Italian legends.
Ferrari want their number one Fernando Alonso to finish as high as possible and rely — as they have done in the past — upon Massa to support his soon-to-be former teammate and, if necessary under their orders, to surrender any advantage of position he may have to the Spaniard.
Massa may be heading for the exit door at Maranello, the team’s Italian HQ, but, it seems, he is determined to show what he can do to potential buyers of his ability whether or not it damages Alonso’s title placing.
That was evident last time out in Japan when the Brazilian blatantly ignored team orders when they were fighting for position on lap eight. Massa’s race engineer, Rob Smedley, sent a coded radio message instructing his man to give way to Alonso, but he was ignored.
Twelve laps later, Alonso managed to overtake Massa and finished fourth. Massa, who was hit with a drive-through penalty for speeding in pit lane, was 10th.
Afterwards, he revealed he had heard the team order from Smedley and admitted he chose to disobey, saying: “It was an instruction and I am never happy with that. But it was not an instruction when he overtook me on track — that had come much earlier. Then it was an unfortunate for me because of the drive-through.”
Alonso could not have been happy that Massa kept him at bay, nor could the Ferrari pit wall team as they watched title pacemaker Sebastian Vettel vanish into the far distance for yet another win, his ninth of the season.
Alonso, no doubt biting his tongue and deferring to diplomacy rather than a revelation of his inner thoughts, said: “I am not going to make a big problem of this. I don’t know exactly what happened, but there are zero problems.
“It would be nice to go back to the old days of Ferrari when we were fighting for first and second and then decide who wins. Or do what Red Bull do, when one car does two stops and the other does three and they finish first and second.
“I am trying to do my maximum and Felipe is trying to do the same and so is the team. So let’s try and do that in the last four races.”
Every man for himself, then?
I wonder.
Ferrari desperately want Alonso to finish second if he can’t be champion. And they won’t be happy if Massa gets in his way, especially with many millions of dollars up for grabs.
Team boss Stefano Domenicalli revealed that Massa did not suffer any team sanctions — I wonder! — for disobeying team orders, and said: “I understand what he is going through. We will support to the end of the season with no problem.”
That is, of course, so long as he does not hamper Alonso again in his own personal ambition to show prospective buyers of his skill just what he is capable of in close combat against the best drivers in the world.
Anyway, it’s all like a rehearsal for Alonso for next season when Kimi Raikkonen joins him on a return to Ferrari. There is no way the Finn will back down in favour of the Spanish flyer, team orders or not.
Look out for fireworks at Ferrari.
