Ferrari cursed their misfortune on Sunday after Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa endured a nightmare weekend at the British Grand Prix.
While Spain’s double world champion Alonso could at least look forward to watching his country in the World Cup final, there was little for the Italian team to cheer about at Silverstone.
Alonso started third and finished 14th after falling foul of the safety car for the second race in a row, while Brazilian Massa was 15th.
To cap a dismal afternoon, the two drivers collided on the opening lap, Massa pitting with a puncture.
“We seem to be really cursed at the moment, when everything that could go wrong does,” team boss Stefano Domenicali told reporters.
Two weeks ago, Ferrari had slammed the European Grand Prix in Valencia as “false” and “manipulated” after McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton suffered no meaningful punishment for illegally passing the safety car, while Alonso was left behind.
At Silverstone, it was the Spaniard’s turn to fall foul of the stewards — including former Ferrari driver Nigel Mansell — after they ruled he had cut a corner to pass Robert Kubica’s Renault.
Unable to give the place back to Kubica because the Pole suffered a drive-shaft failure and soon retired, a drive-through penalty was imposed only for the safety car to be deployed before Alonso could take it.
When he did, he found himself at the back of the group of cars not yet lapped by the leader.
“As soon as we received the information that in the opinion of the steward Fernando should have given back position to Robert, he [Robert] was already very far behind and was really slowing down because he had a problem,” Domenicali said. “You can have a situation where immediately there is a possibility to give position back to a driver if you feel there is really an advantage to be gained, but on our side we felt that was not the case, otherwise we would have done it.”
Alonso, who recognized he had made a “horrible start,” was more resigned to the day’s events and the decision of the stewards.
“The criteria is the same for everybody,” he told Spanish media. “The stewards look closely at all the incidents of the race and they always make the decision they think is the right one.”
Ferrari sit third in the constructor standings, 113 points behind leaders McLaren and 84 behind Red Bull.
Domenicali said there was still plenty to play for.
“Don’t forget that we won a championship [in 2007] with two races to go and 17 points behind,” he said. “Before saying that everything is finished, let’s wait.”
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