Eric Thompson: Prancing pony bucks the trend

Opinion

Before I launch into what a bunch of cheats the Ferrari Formula One team are and how the governing body is loath to chuck the book at the prancing horse, I have a confession to make.

I for one am quite happy to admit when I make a mistake. Unlike here in New Zealand where mistakes are frowned upon, I subscribe to the United States model where honest mistakes are part of the learning curve.

On Sunday afternoon's sport show on Radio Live hosted by Martin Devlin - where as the Herald's motorsport correspondent I have a regular slot chatting about motor racing - I got something wrong.

We were talking about driver instructions and how they are now illegal and that Ferrari's race engineer Rob Smedley instructed Felipe Massa, via a coded message, to let the whinger Fernando Alonso pass.

Article 39.1 of the Sporting Regulations says "team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited". Ferrari were fined the maximum amount of US$100,000 ($142,000) and the stewards also sent the case to FIA's council for further consideration.

The rule was introduced in 2002 after Ferrari did the same thing during the Austrian Grand Prix.

Guess who's the new FIA president? Jean Todt. The very same man was in charge at Ferrari when Rubens Barrichello was ordered to pull over for Michael Schumacher during the Austrian race.

It would appear cars painted red have a special dispensation. I wonder what would happen if at one round this year every team fronted up on the grid in a red car with a black horse painted on the nose cone?

Anyway, back to my faux pas. I mentioned that back in the 1950s team orders were so rife that drivers were hauled out of cars and replaced by the leading pilot in the team. I cited the example of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss. Both were in the race but Fangio didn't replace Moss, he replaced Peter Collins.

In 1956 Fangio left Mercedes and joined Ferrari. He borrowed team-mates' cars three times, with the biggie being at the Italian Grand Prix, the last race of the season. Fangio led his teammate Collins by eight points in the championship but during the race his steering arm broke causing him to retire. His other teammate, Jean Behra, was told to hand his car to Fangio so the Argentine could win his third title, but refused.

Collins, on the other hand, sacrificed his chance of a shot at the world title and handed his car over during a pit stop.

Only a Brit could be that polite, or should I say barking mad enough, to do such a thing. Fangio went on to finish second to Moss and shared the points with Collins to give him the title.

A couple of morals to this chat. Get your facts right (me) and if wrong put your hand up. Second, it won't just be Ferrari cheating when it comes to driver instructions so why not go back to the old ways and make team orders part of the rules.

Can you imagine 6ft Mark Webber coming into the pits to hand over his car to 5ft 6in teammate Sebastian Vettel? The pit crew would have to put wooden blocks on the pedals.

But hell - it'd make the racing fun to watch, well, in pit lane anyway.