08/09/2010
NEWS STORY
 |
At today's meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris, Ferrari will learn its fate following its breech of the rules in terms of team orders.
For the Italian team, the best result would be a stiff warning on future naughtiness, however, in a worst case scenario the team could be excluded from the 2010 championship.
Having already been fined $100,000 for breaches of Articles 39.1 of the FIA 2010 Sporting regulations and article 151.c) of the 2010 FIA International sporting code, the matter was then referred to the WMSC which has the power to inflict far harsher additional penalties than the stewards in Germany.
While the Italian team has hinted at legal action should it deem any additional punishment as overly harsh, such a move would merely garner more bad publicity for a sport which has already suffered enough in recent years.
This WMSC will not turn its attention to Ferrari until this afternoon, having spent the morning looking at other issues including the 2011 calendar, new regulations and the possibility of a 13th team.
While Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo will attend the hearing - which will be chaired by Graham Stoker, the FIA's deputy president - neither Fernando Alonso nor Felipe Massa will be present. However, they will be available via a video link if needed.
Ferrari's hopes in both championships are at stake today, for should the team or Alonso lose points it would seriously compromise their 2010 ambitions.
While former FIA president believes the team and its driver should lose their points others are not so sure, BRDC president Damon Hill feeling that too harsh a penalty would only damage the sport.
Ironically, whatever happens today, it is likely that the WMSC will do away with the team orders rule - introduced in the wake of Ferrari's manipulation of the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix.