Eric Thompson: Ferrari dodges another bullet

I can't work out how if you break the rules you only get half the punishment. It's a bit like shooting at someone with a gun.

You take aim, fire five bullets, with every intent of hitting the person but miss, and when getting arrested for attempted murder your claim is, "I wasn't trying to shoot him because I missed."

The Ferrari Formula One team has dodged yet another bullet when it comes to breaking the rules.

It is clear to everyone, except the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), that Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley was telling Felipe Massa to pull over and let Fernando Alonso pass at the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim.

On lap 50 Smedley could be heard on the radio saying to Massa, "Fernando is faster than you, do you understand?" If that wasn't enough, the dead giveaway something was up, was when Smedley came back on the radio to Massa and said "sorry".

You don't apologise if you haven't done any wrong or embarrassing.

However, that august body of decision makers, the FIA WMSC has ruled, despite it having a pretty good idea there something dodgy about it all, not to impose any further punishment other than the $100,000 fine.

"It is undeniable that the race result would have been different had the contentious instruction not been issued to Mr Felipe Massa," said an FIA statement.

It went on to say, "There were many examples of what could have been said to be team orders in Formula 1 in recent years, and therefore there has been inconsistency in its application.

"Also its application to indirect team orders via messages where drivers raise no complaints is uncertain and difficult to detect and police.

"The Judging Body of the WMSC accepted that this may well have influenced Ferrari's approach, and Ferrari also had a legitimate concern to avoid collisions between teammates in close on track racing."

You have to hand it to Ferrari, when it comes to wiggling out of seemingly impossible situations where they've been caught red handed, they're masters at it. I'll bet you, if Ferrari was caught with a smoking gun in its hand, and a dead body at its feet, somehow, it would be the dead person's fault they were dead. Have a read of some of the stuff Ferrari documented in their defence, making a point there is a big difference between information and orders.

"In the view of Ferrari, Mr Felipe Massa was not ordered to allow Mr Fernando Alonso to pass; rather he was given relevant information, based on which he decided, for the benefit of the team, to allow Mr Fernando Alonso to pass," said the statement. "The relevant information was that Mr Fernando Alonso was faster than him, and that Mr Sebastian Vettel was closing the gap on both of them.

"Mr Felipe Massa realised that the best interests of the team and the drivers' safety were going to be served by allowing Mr Fernando Alonso to pass, and acted accordingly.

"In the view of Ferrari, there is a clear distinction between 'team orders' on the one hand, and 'team strategy and tactics' on the other hand."

Maybe it's Ferrari's perceived invincibility that F1 would end if they were thrown out which allows the team to play by their rules and not anyone else's.

The people at Maranello should realise that no body's indispensable and what goes around comes around. Keep bending the rules and playing with smoke and mirrors and fans and sponsors alike will soon be looking for someone else to back and follow.