Ferrari have denied that Rob Smedley’s comments to Felipe Massa during the Singapore Grand Prix carried any malicious intent, despite some media sources suggesting so.
Smedley, who is Massa’s race engineer, said the following to the Brazilian over the radio during the race: “Hold Hamilton as much as we can. Destroy his race as much as we can. Come on, boy…”
The pair then made contact as Hamilton attempted to overtake.
Ferrari, through its infamous ‘Horse Whisperer’ column, says the comments have been blown out of proportion and, whilst it may not have been the most politically correct choice of words, it had nothing to do with the contact.
“Words, words, words… Reading some of the English daily papers, it seems the Horse Whisperer is not alone in having his thoughts turn to William Shakespeare when he stumbled across the polemical mountain made out of the molehill that was the phrase delivered by Rob Smedley during the Singapore Grand Prix.
“It’s true that Felipe Massa’s race engineer was caught up in the heat of the moment and chose to use the verb “destroy” at some point.
“It might not have been the most politically correct choice of word, but it definitely carried no malicious intent, especially when you take into account that Rob is a Middlesbrough lad, born and bred!
“It is also true that this exhortation to Felipe came at the exit to Turn 5 on lap 11 of the race, at the end of which both the Ferrari man and Hamilton were due to come in to the pits together. In other words, it had nothing to do with the collision between Felipe and Lewis that happened on the following lap.
“It would not have taken much to avoid this misunderstanding, but that’s what happens in the frenetic world of Formula 1. When all is said done, as the Bard of Avon himself might have put it, it was all much ado about nothing.”
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