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By darwin dali
#2332
Ferrari team chief Jean Todt has dropped a clear hint that they are ready to adopt Renault-style 'team orders' to help Michael Schumacher clinch his eighth drivers world championship.

In the wake of Sunday's tumultuous Chinese Grand Prix, Todt said Ferrari had learned a lot from seeing the two leading Renault cars run side by side to protect their positions during the race.

Schumacher eventually passed both of them and recorded his 91st Formula One victory to take over at the top of the drivers' championship standings for the first time since he won his seventh title in 2004.

"It has been a good learning exercise for us," said Todt, acknowledging the way in which Italian Giancarlo Fisichella drove 'shotgun' to protect defending champion Fernando Alonso while he was struggling with his tyres. "We have learned what we can do. We learn what we can do inside and we learn from what the others do, so it is always interesting. It is up to you to judge if they (Renault's tactics) are usual or unusual. We are just taking it into consideration. I don't have any more comment to make."

Schumacher and Alonso are now tied on points at the top of the drivers' title race with 116 each, but the 37-year-old German leads because he has seven wins to Alonso's six.

Another win at Suzuka on Sunday, in the Japanese Grand Prix, with Alonso failing to score, would clinch this year's crown for Schumacher before he heads into retirement.

Looking back on one of the most sublime and virtuoso drives in Schumacher's spectacular career, Todt went on : "This was an important win, but I am not going to make a classification out of the 91 wins. It was a combination of strategy, team-work, Michael's control of the car in different conditions. He attacked when he had to attack. He slowed down when he could slow down. It was a perfectly-controlled race from him, the team and the package he was driving."
:wink:
User avatar
By Irv the Swerve
#2334
it was very interesting the way renault handled the problem of alonso's tyres. that 'shotgun' role
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By darwin dali
#2337
To me Renault/FA are a pot calling the kettle black. FA said that MS is the most unsporting driver in F1 history. China was another (of many) examples why he, in my mind, can shove this statement up his where the sun never shines. :roll:
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By Irv the Swerve
#2339
i think we know what the outcome is going to be at interlagos :)
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By darwin dali
#2340
What do you mean?
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By Irv the Swerve
#2342
c'mon when schuey will win the title alonso and renault will start complaing about schuey what happened at monaco about the massa blocking although schuey wont care because he can laugh all the way home with trophy in hand :)
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By darwin dali
#2346
They will start??? They've been doing this crap since mid-season!
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By Irv the Swerve
#2348
they will say oh it wasnt a real championship and so on.....and on......will i keep on going?? :)
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By bud
#2350
todt should shut up bloody hypocrite!!
knowing what youre allowed to do has ever stopped Ferrari from bending the rules of sportsmanship in the past? pfff Todts just proven again he really is a stupid evil w***er of a person.
Modern day Napolean, not just in looks!
By logan
#2364
Spitz-- "c'mon when schuey will win the title alonso and renault will start complaing about schuey what happened at monaco about the massa blocking although schuey wont care because he can laugh all the way home with trophy in hand "


I think it's a bit early to assume Shumi will walk away with the 8'th WDC when it's sooooooooo obvious that Ferrari and Renaults are sooooo equally matched ....infact Renaults have the advantage in the wets and I do think they are just as strong as Ferrari in dry....One mistake and your gone......just toooooo close to predict anything.

Talking about the blocking tactics of Renaults ......I'm soooo glad about it, simply because there are few peopel in here specially anti Shmui/Ferrari critics and Renault fan who belive that Ferrari is the only team who does it...and have been criticizing it for soooo many years. Well I think now since even others are following what Ferrari did from start the anti Shumi/Ferrari critics need to find something new to bash them
By Marco
#2367
Yeah I think Ferrari and Schu get too much criticism. I think it's partly to spice up the motorsport press, partly because nowadays no one likes to see great teams/drivers win - but i say i would rather see that than Alonso, whose behaviour of late has been downright childish.
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By darwin dali
#2369
Speaking of childish:

F1Live (a Renault biased web site) reports today:

The 25-year-old, who in the Spanish press this week accused his team colleagues of abandoning the quest for his drivers' title, has now been quoted as criticising team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella's tactics on the Shanghai circuit.

Alonso reportedly told Sport-Informations-Dienst: "In the same situation I don't believe that (Ferrari's) Massa would have driven past Schumacher."

A Renault spokesman, however, insisted that 33-year-old Fisichella 'drove purely for the team' in the Chinese Grand Prix.

And he said of Spaniard Alonso: "There is no problem at all with the relations between him and the team."

Tomorrow we expect Alonso to hit out at global warming, which must also be responsible for the loss of the championship lead.


I like the last paragraph - so true! :mrgreen:
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By Selcouth_Feline
#2371
Tomorrow we expect Alonso to hit out at global warming, which must also be responsible for the loss of the championship lead.


:lol:
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By bud
#2390
Reportedly... the same headlines you talk down when they are about schumi dd :P
By Smokestoomuch
#2419
It's difficult to see how anyone from Ferrari can consider "implementing" team orders, when one the contractual obligations of the number two is not to finish in front of Schumacher.

Surely most people that have an interest in F1 can understand how important it is for FA to be as far up the field as possible at this stage of the season, including Fisi.

On the other hand when Ferrari prevented Barrichello winning at Austria (2002/2003?), half way through the season so Schumacher could take another glorious win that was supposed to be acceptable?

There's a lot of hypocrisy surrounding Ferrari, and it isn't coming from Renault.

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