F1: Ferrari Hits Back At Team Order Criticism ‘Hypocrisy’, Nurburgring Plays Down F1 Calendar Exit Rumours

As the Hockenheim team orders furore continues, Ferrari Team President Luca di Montezemolo has cried "enough of this hypocrisy".

Leading figures of top rivals, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes teams, have lashed out at the Italian marque after Felipe Massa was ordered aside for Fernando Alonso for victory at Sunday's German Grand Prix.

"We all have to obey the rules," Mercedes GP Chief Executive Nick Fry said.

Red Bull's Christian Horner said, "It's a great shame that the race was manipulated to give one driver a victory over the other."

And McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh, also Chairman of the F1 teams union FOTA, said, "We do desperately want to win but it's about how you win."

The Briton also said he would speak "privately" about the issue to Ferrari.

While hitting back at what he describes as "polemics", Montezemolo at least seemed to steer away from the team's earlier denial that Massa was given a team order.

"These things have happened since the days of Nuvolari and I experienced it myself when I was sporting director, in the days of Niki Lauda and not just then,"  Montezemolo said. "The polemics are of no interest to me."

"Enough of this hypocrisy, even if I can well believe that some people might have liked to see our two drivers eliminate one another, but that is definitely not the case for me or indeed for our fans," he said.

(GMM)

Nurburgring Plays Down F1 Calendar Exit Rumours

The German Grand Prix will definitely revert as scheduled to the Nurburgring next year.

The track has recently been alternating the annual hosting of the Formula One race with Hockenheim, with the arrangement originally set to run only until 2011.

But at Hockenheim last weekend, there were rumours that Bernie Ecclestone is so happy with his new arrangement with that circuit that he wants to return next season and beyond.

Last year, when Hockenheim said it could no longer afford the F1 Chief Executive's race fees, Ecclestone agreed to share the "business risks and opportunities" with a new deal through 2018.

In the days before the race, attended by 65,000 spectators, organisers confirmed that the 2010 event was set to break even.

On Tuesday, rival operating company Nurburgring Automotive GmbH played down the rumours about Hockenheim now taking its place in F1.

"The fact that the race will take place (at the Nurburgring in 2011) is beyond question," the company said according to the news agency SID, as advance ticket bookings commenced.

Late last year, local Rhineland-Palatinate state politicians said they wanted a new F1 contract for the Nurburgring with "more favourable conditions" and not "at any price".

(GMM)