Ferrari have questioned the method by which the FIA race stewards informed the teams they must use extreme weather tyres prior to the Japanese Grand Prix. The Maranello-based team claim they failed to receive an email informing them on the new rule prior the race, which is why they made the decision to start Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa on intermediate tyres.
And although they received no explanation for the missing email, Ferrari said they could not understand why the FIA would not use a formal method of notification.
Ferrari sporting director Stefano Domenicali said: "The habit of using the email between the teams and race control is done by the normal documentations, like information on the classification, on the event or something like that.
"But normally when there is some information that is very sensitive, related to the running - in this case, of the race - this information should be circulated as is written on the sporting regulation article 15.1, with the receipt that has to be acknowledged by the team. This is something that is there.
"But in any case I think that for sure, you can imagine that it would have been very stupid knowing that and doing the opposite. We didn't know and that's it, and it was not possible to take a decision like that."
Domenicali said that the team only became aware of the tyre situation on the second lap of the race, when FIA race director Charlie Whiting informed them over the radio that they were on the wrong tyre.
Ferrari press officer Luca Colajanni then obtained a copy of the stewards' notice, which had been circulated in the media centre, from Italian television channel RAI and delivered it to the pit wall.
A team member was then dispatched to race control to check on the situation and, once it was confirmed, the team took the decision to change the tyres on both cars.
Domenicali said that he had visited the stewards immediately after the race to try and find out what happened with the email.
"We went straight away at the end of the race just to understand what had happened," he said. "They understood our point, and in a way that's a note that has to come from the stewards as you know, and basically they were apologising for the fact that they used the usual system of using the email for normal communication also for this thing, and that's what they said."
Ferrari team principal Jean Todt ruled out his team taking any action to try and rectify the positions the team lost as a result of the tyre situation.
"It would not solve the problem," he said. "The race is over, the race is over. We want to understand better what has happened, the way it has happened. But I think to open a new controversy would not be good for the sport.
"I read already that sometimes in the interest of the sport we feel it's better to leave it like that."
Todt did think that it would be a good idea, however, for a new rule to be written in the regulations stipulating that teams start races with extreme tyres in the event of a safety car being used.
"I think it should probably be very wise to write a rule where you say that if you start under the safety car, then you have to fit full wet tyres," he said. "That would probably be a good rule."
Source - http://www.autosport.com
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