Alonso's seven extra points cast a shadow over F1
By.
Alan Henry
Max Mosley, the former FIA president who relinquished the powerful and influential position to former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt this time last year, has waded back into the front line of F1 controversy with a suggestion that the world championship’s credibility stands to be undermined if Fernando Alonso should end up taking a third title in the next fortnight.
Speaking in the tense run-up to the two final races of the season, Mosley tossed a squib into the F1 debate last week by suggesting that Alonso should not have profited from the extra points he accrued after Felipe Massa slowed so that the Spaniard could overtake him and win this year’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
“I did feel at the very least that the extra points Alonso got by overtaking Massa under team orders should have been taken away,” Mosley told the BBC last week. “If by any chance Alonso were to win the championship with a margin less than the seven [extra] points he picked up, I would say illegitimately, at Hockenheim, it would devalue the championship. But that is just a personal view.”
The Hockenheim episode was one of the few embarrassing sticking points in the 2010 season and the validity of Mosley’s observations, of course, hinges in part on whether one fundamentally believes that team orders are correct and the rules banning them are not.
Mosley has always been a controversial character but there are many in the F1 paddock who will agree with his interpretation of events at Hockenheim and concur that Alonso should have no business profiting from what was clearly a breach of the rules.
Alonso, of course, will be simply aiming to silence all criticism of his efforts by winning the title by a significantly bigger margin than even the 11-point edge over Mark Webber which he currently enjoys. Don't bet against him!