As Ferrari come to terms with their fine after the most controversial race result this season, the result still stands.  Alonso took the win with Massa 2nd, after the latter was told to move over for the race winner. This is what both drivers had to say after the this German Grand Prix that was dominated by team orders.

“This is a very important win, which comes on the back of weeks of hard work from the team who pushed to make up the ground that separates us from our main rivals,” said Fernando Alonso. “Race after race, the improvements applied to the F10 have proved to be effective, thus making the car more competitive. I am very happy, because winning with Ferrari is a very special feeling. At the start I was pushed right up against the wall by Vettel, whose only thought was to close me down, while Felipe made the most of it to go past both of us.”

Alonso said that he passed Massa when the Brazilian was having ‘difficulties’: “Then, I tried to stay close all the time to my team-mate and when he had some difficulties, I got past: I am sure that Felipe was thinking above all of the good of the team and that it was pointless to take risks when we had Vettel catching us up. There is no point in doing the sums for the championship now. We have shown what our package can do in a normal race and we must simply continue to work, trying to always pick up the maximum number of points. As I have always said, the final tally will come in Abu Dhabi.”

Felipe Massa admitted he’s not happy with 2nd place. “A driver always wants to win, so I cannot be completely happy with second place,” lamented Massa. “I know that this year, the team has lost too many points in previous races and today it was important to do the maximum. We drivers have to first of all think of the interests of the team and that is what I showed again today.”

Unsurprisingly, in the polished team quotes, Felipe Massa didn’t think that he was the victim of team orders, and implied that he made the call to let Alonso through: “In my opinion this was not a case of team orders: my engineer kept me constantly informed on what was going on behind me, especially when I was struggling a bit on the hard tyres: so I decided to do the best thing for the team, and a one-two finish is the best possible result, isn’t it? I got a great start, the best of the season. At the start, on the soft tyres I was going very quickly but then, with the hards, I was unable to run at an ideal pace. I think today I proved that when everything is in order, I am a winning driver. It would have been nice to stand on a higher step on the podium but all the same, I want to dedicate this result to Fernando Marins, a relation of mine, who passed away at the start of this week.”

Stefano Domenicali said it was a ‘fantastic result’. “First and foremost, I want to congratulate the team on this fantastic result, which is down to all the work undertaken with so much effort, ability and passion by everyone, both at the track and in Maranello, day after day. Already, over the past few races, we have seen that the performance level of our car has improved and finally today, we reaped the rewards,” said the Ferrari team principal.

Domenicali added that he wouldn’t appeal against the steward’s decision to fine them $100,000, in the ‘interests of the sport’: “As for the Stewards’ decision, given after the race, in the interests of the sport, we have decided not to go through a procedure of appealing against it, confident that the World Council will know how to evaluate the overall facts correctly. The congratulations mentioned earlier should also extend to our drivers who drove a great race. Both Felipe and Fernando got very good starts, with the Spaniard squeezed in a very decisive fashion by Vettel and the Brazilian making the most of the space that created ahead of him. Then came a long three way fight to the chequered flag, with Felipe very quick on the softer tyres while he struggled a bit on the hards, which meant that Fernando was at first able to close right up on him and then take the lead when his team-mate decided it was best not to create a risky situation, given that right behind them, Vettel was fighting back. The situation in both championships is still complicated, but this result is further motivation for the coming races: we firmly believe in our chances of reaching the targets we had at the start of the season.”

Fernando Alonso qualified in 3rd today, and is hoping for a podium finish in the race tomorrow. While he acknowledges the Red Bulls are ‘out of reach,’ the Spaniard has said Ferrari will be applying pressure all the time to the Austrian team to make sure their win doesn’t come easily.

“We knew that at this type of circuit, the Red Bulls would be out of reach, but we managed to get ahead of the rest of the pack. We are aware we still need to up our performance level but it was important to get a positive indication and I think that, thanks to all the work we have done in the past weeks on the development of the car, we have managed to do that,” Alonso reflected.

“On my final run, I had traffic in sector three – I think it might have been Michael [Schumacher] – but even with a clear track ahead of me, I definitely would not have improved my grid position. Up until now, the weekend has gone well but now we must tackle the part that counts, the race: we must try and finish on the podium, because we need to score a lot of points.

“In terms of pace, we have proved to be competitive and we must try and at least put the Red Bulls under some pressure to ensure they don’t have an easy time of getting the win.”

Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa said that he could have had a better result than 7th place in qualifying today, were it not for a lack of grip from new sets of tyres. However, the Brazilian is optimistic for the race tomorrow, hoping for a fast race pace and to make up numerous positions.

“I am pleased with the performance of my car which was competitive today. Unfortunately, I always struggled a lot in terms of getting grip from the tyres on the first lap on a new set, as was especially obvious in Q3. I would say that here we saw the same situation that arose in Melbourne and to a greater extent in Barcelona. A shame, as I could have got a better result,” Massa stated.

“I remain very confident for the race though: yesterday, when we had a heavy fuel load on board, we managed to maintain a good pace and I hope that tomorrow, it will be even better. I plan to make up some places compared to my grid position, although I am aware it will not be easy.”

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali added: “We can be reasonably satisfied with today’s outcome. Fernando had a great qualifying, getting all the potential out of the car. A shame for Felipe, who could have finished higher, although his chances of having a good race are still intact. Looking to tomorrow, clearly our aim is to get a podium finish.”

“We start behind what looks like the untouchable Red Bulls, but several times this year we have seen our car prove to be more competitive in the race than in qualifying. It will be important to get a good start and, as usual in fact, reliability remains the key factor. Usually in qualifying, you see all the potential in terms of performance and for us it is encouraging to see that on a track whose characteristics definitely do not favour our car, the extensive work of the past few weeks is reaping its rewards: now we must transform that into results,” he concluded.

“I think the only way to describe today is that it was a Friday like so many others. I expected to be competitive because our car is much better than it was at the Turkish Grand Prix, which was the last time we raced at a track with similar characteristics to this one. As expected, Red Bull is very strong and therefore the big favourite for tomorrow’s qualifying and behind them, we will fight it out with McLaren, Renault and maybe also Mercedes: nothing different there to Valencia. At this track, you need a car with a lot of aerodynamic downforce and slightly different suspension settings to usual. The new components introduced in Valencia and those brought here have improved the handling of the F10: we must continue to push on the car development front at each and every race. I like the new part of the track: it is fun and safe and I think it improves the show. Regrets over the outcome of the last two races? The final adding up comes in Abu Dhabi. We lost points that were within our grasp but, in Barcelona for example, we were lucky to pick up others. Now there are 75 points up for grabs in the space of four weeks: we must try and do better than our rivals, trying to always finish on the podium, starting from here.”

Felipe Massa (17th, 4th)

“I would say it’s been a good day for us. We tried out various new aerodynamic components and compared different configurations: by the end, the car was pretty good, with a variety of fuel loads and on both new and used tyres. We are doing so much work on the development of the car and one can see the benefits: the new elements we brought to the track for this Grand Prix did the job and can now be signed off after their track debut. After this good start, let’s hope the weekend continues down this route. The new part of the track? Honestly, I was expecting more in terms of overtaking opportunities: I do not think it will change the situation much compared to the past.”

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal, Scuderia Ferrari

“We had a good day, especially as we were able to complete a very intensive work programme. With in-season testing banned, Fridays take on a dual function – preparing the cars for qualifying and the race and the development of new solutions for the short and medium term – and today we completed both phases. From what we have seen today, we have a very strong Red Bull, which is definitely no surprise, while the rest are closely matched behind, with some who might have masked their potential. We have to remain concentrated on our own work, trying to get as well prepared as possible for qualifying and especially for the race. Today, we saw several cars go off track, a sign that the slightest error can be costly at this circuit: everything will have to be perfect if we want to bring home a good result.”

Chris Dyer, Chief Track Engineer, Scuderia Ferrari

“We are pleased with how things went on this first day of the British Grand Prix. We had a very packed work schedule and we managed to get through it all successfully. The indications we are getting from the new components we introduced here and at the last race seem to be positive. The overall performance of the package we have here is reasonably good: we still have a bit of work to do to fine tune the car, especially for qualifying, but overall, we have a good starting point from which to continue working this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Over a long run we seem to be competitive, which is a good sign for the race. Both drivers tried the car with and without the blown rear wing, because we wanted to be sure that overall, its use would pay off at a track like this: and the response to this configuration was a positive one.”

Valentino Rossi testing a Ferrari F1 car in 2008

9 time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi would be welcome to make the switch from two wheels to four and join Ferrari after team boss Stefano Domenicali and driver Felipe Massa both admitted they would like him at the Maranello team.

The 30-year-old Italian Rossi has tested a Ferrari Formula 1 car twice, in 2006 and 2008, and will make his third appearance in a 2008-spec Ferrari on Wednesday and Thursday at Barcelona, despite recently suffering an appendix scare.

When Rossi tested an F1 car for the first time in 2006, Rossi was little more than a half second behind Michael Schumacher’s best time. Schumi hailed Rossi as having immense talent and said he would be perfectly capable of moving to Formula One and being competitive immediately.

On the subject of whether Rossi could make a full time switch to F1, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa said:

“It’s not sure that the third car will be allowed, but if it is, Valentino will be welcome.”

Team Principal Stefano Domenicali agreed:

“For us, the third machine would represent a good move for F1. Especially if a driver like Valentino would be interested.”

Would you like Rossi to switch to F1?

“We wait for the decisions of the Sporting Working Group (SWG) of the FIA, which will meet in January to approve new rules.

“Scores are likely to be revised: there is the proposal to reward the pole position and fastest lap in the race.”

There have already been drastic changes made to the F1 points system for next year, due to the increase in participating teams. The race winner will get 25 points instead of 10, with 20 for second and 15 for third. The remaining points have been allocated 10-8-6-5-3-2-1.

The state-of-the-art piece of kit has been two years in the making, is housed over two floors and offers the driver a viewing spectrum of over 180 degrees.

At the launch, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said:

“It’s an important day for us. The completion of this project means we will now be able to tackle with confidence some of the challenges that make up modern-day Formula One, while putting Ferrari at the cutting edge in terms of this technology.

“Furthermore, I am pleased such a complex project as this, which got underway around two years ago, has been completed on schedule thanks to the efforts of all those who worked on it.”