I am amazed he has the cheek to complain about that given the stuff Schumacher has done in the past and what the FIA has done to apparently help Ferrari out in the championship. Like you said...
I don't see what the problem is, or which part of Todt's comment required "cahones". It is obvious to me that he would "question" Renault's defensive "tactics" because it put Ferrari at a disadvantage. I have run abreast with fellow racers to prevent overtakes even without a WC as a stake, and don't see any problem with anyone else doing so if I'm trying to pass them.
It might be annoying for the adversary, but where does it say well executed team-play is not allowed
Well basically, what Todt said there is "if they do team play, we will also do it next race".
So expect Massa blocking both Renaults if any Ferrari is in front of them.
If only Kimi's car could be reliable for once in the last 2 races it could mix things up a bit.
Yes, well, as long as it's legal "blocking" then it's merely good driving. If he weaves all over the place endangering other drivers then he's out of line and should be penalised. Running two-wide is not blocking as such in my view, they were there first, and that's that
I think it's almost pointless to pretend that there are no team orders in effect (I'm not saying you think or don't think so, just generalising). Even before this race Massa slowed right down when he was well in the lead and could have won by a considerable margin. The only difference then was that it didn't start in a position where Massa and Schu were close enough to block the Renaults in the same way as they did.
I do this on LFS with my team mates, if i see a car alongside me slipstreaming my team mate then i squeeze up to my team mates car effectively blocking in the opponent so they need to back off.
They would only have something to complain about if Fisi or Alonso took out schumacher, I wouldn't be suprised if Fisi did 'accidently' crash into him. After all Senna did it, and he actually told everyone he was going to do it before the race!
Yes the difference between Schumacher and Senna is that Senna admitted to crashing out Prost in the first corner of the 1990 Japanese GP on purpose. Schumacher has such deluded self belief he refuses to acknowlege any wrong doing on his part...unless Ferrari shove a red hot poker up his arse.
But teams mates defending in such a way is not against the rules, if the team ordered them to do it then it would be.
EDIT: and yes its common to see us ATC guys helping each other in races :P
He isn't complaining. He is aknowledging the precedent set in the last race in reference to the new rules about team orders. Maybe you should read everything that Frank Williams, Ken Tyrell, Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan and even Paul Stoddart ever proclaimed in similar cirumstances? That way you might not tend to misread this series of comments and their intent.
it's all well renault driving "defensively" and Ferrari achknowledging it and may use it the next race, but with Schumacher determined to win the championship I reckon he will do anything to get at it, and if it means taking out Alonso i reckon he would do that
Tbh, any racing driver would do anything to win a championship. Otherwise they arent championship calibre. If it is done right (Suzuka 90, Adelaide 94) it works, if it is done wront (Jerez 97) it ****s you up. But then you dont really care about it, since you didnt win the championship anyways.
Dont think there is any driver out there "oh, pls pass me, I will lose the WDC, but if you pass me fair and square, thats ok!"
Of couse the problem is Ferrari will need Massa to be on one of his good days. He is either fighting for the top 3 or below 10th place, he seems inconsistent, unlike Fisi.
Kimi/McLaren could mix it with the Championship contenders for the last two races but I'm sure Kimi and McLaren would be out to get results for themselves, rather than thinking of helping Renault or Ferrari. It's getting dangerously close to the first season in about a decade without a McLaren win, and that would hurt.
I could sort of understand if McLaren would prefer it if Alonso took the WDC, as they'd have all the marketing benefit of having the WC in their car. Kimi on the otherhand might not want his future team and MS to take another Ferrari championship, as it sort of makes the expectations for 2007 even higher. He'd have more glory bringing the championship back to Ferrari after two years of missing out than just following on from where Schumacher left off.
Whether Kimi does finish this year fighting Alonso and Schumacher for the wins, he must be favourite for 2007. Beating Massa shouldn't be a problem, and beating an Alonso handicapped by McLaren reliability should be easy enough, and with Renault relying on the the unproven Kovalainen, it is looking good for Kimi.
The unspoken implication was that Renault was somehow up to no good because Giancarlo Fisichella did not overtake Fernando Alonso immediately in China when Alonso was struggling with his tyres in the middle of the race.
So a journalist is deciding what Todt was thinking when he made the comments? And from that point on the rest of the article is based. Typical F1-Journo dross. It shows that they have nothing to write about.
We saw Fisi pull alongside Alonso and then back off, Ferrari don't usually play silly games that way, they either drop the pace or they pass. Once Fisi did overtake he was off like a shot into the distance. It was poor job of acting and Todt is doing a good job as a team boss to highlight the point now rather than have his own drivers accused of bending the rules to suit themselves in the next few vital races. Renault (through Fisi) made it obvious that he was deliberately faking his inability to overtake Alonso. Because Todt has spoken out, in the upcoming races Renault will not now have the opportunity to throw a tantrum if their(Ferrari's) drivers play the team game openly, like Renault did in the last race.
If you were a team boss like Todt, you should be doing exactly the same thing as he has. Renault have set a precedent by not being penalised for the scope of their action/inaction and Todt is making sure it is set in stone. Call it insurance if you will, it is very smart "business" to bring the point to everyone'e attention now. Briatore would have done the same thing as Todt, as would anyone in their situations in the run up to 2006 the world title.
The F1 journos will always try to create controversy where there is none to be found. They want you to cry foul and make a big fuss. But in this case you would be making a fuss based on the journalistic opinion of a person who gets paid to start fires rather than report on the apparent facts of the situation.
The two Renaults could have, should have, made a better job of switching places. Instead they have given the enemy an opening to attack through. Poor old Fisi is the meat in the sandwich here, I bet he is looking forward to the new season.
All of the team bosses play the game. Todt is a master at it. Briatore is a tough adversary in this regard as well. A world championship is won through a variety of efforts and many factors (and people) contribute to a winning result.