Rules are rules but Ferrari’s power within Formula One told as they were issued with only a fine for deliberately breaking Rule 39.1, which states that team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited, during the German Grand Prix this weekend.

The Italian team had set out at the weekend to make a statement and get back into the championship race and to be fair to them they did just that, leading the majority of the race through Massa with Alonso second.

However, it became clear that Alonso was marginally quicker than his team mate and with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel threatening to challenge for the lead Ferrari took the decision to ‘hint’ to their drivers that Alonso should be allowed through to prevent a proper race between the two drivers.

“Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand?”

Those were the words of Ferrari’s race engineer Rob Smedley to Massa and moments later the Brazilian allowed Alonso through – as clear a case of team orders as there can be. That was confirmed when the Ferrari team were punished post-race with a trifling £100,000 fine.

Guilty as charged then, but it’s the level of punishment I’m taking issue with here. Rule 39.1 was put in place to prevent just this sort of thing and to give the F1 audience proper racing up front. Both McLaren and Red Bull have allowed their drivers to fight it out for the lead this season and Ferrari should have done the same.

Instead they cheated, pure and simple. It would have been fantastic viewing to watch Alonso and Massa battle each other and it could also have allowed Vettel to get involved too, serving up a three way fight for the victory. Who wouldn’t want to see that?

Ferrari robbed us all of that chance and as such should have had both drivers disqualified. It may have been unsatisfactory, but so was what happened. It would also have sent a clear message to the other teams that team orders will not be tolerated.

Eddie Jordan was apoplectic with what happened, as you would expect from the fiery Irishman.

“It was unlawful and was theft. They stole from us the chance of having a wheel-to-wheel contest between the drivers. Ferrari should be ashamed. This was a team order. For me, it is cheating and these two cars should be excluded.”

Strong but fair words in my opinion, and it’s rare I agree with Jordan. This is potentially the best F1 season in a very long time. Ferrari – and a weak willed FIA – have put that at risk by inferring you can get away with only a small fine if you want to cheat. It’s outrageous and the precedent set will not discourage team orders being used in the future.

Not that I’m surprised. As I said, Ferrari have a lot of power in Formula One and they put it to good use here, forcing their way back into contention for the championships through very underhand tactics. I can only hope Red Bull and McLaren reinstate their dominance so far this season and ensure Ferrari have had their moment of ‘glory’ for this year.

This weekend sees the Formula One roadshow visit Silverstone for the British Grand Prix and former world champion Damon Hill reckons it could be the event during which the so far amicable relationship between McLaren drivers (and Englishmen) Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finally begin to fracture.

He may have a point. Both drivers are vying for the Formula One title, both drivers have won it and both drivers will want desperately to win their home Grand Prix.

Not only that, Red Bull have reapplied pressure by winning the last race in Valencia, Sebastien Vettel pipping both McLaren drivers to the chequered flag.

You’ll also remember the Turkish Grand Prix, in which Button and Hamilton fought for the win, Button overtaking his team mate before Hamilton retook the lead for the win. There was confusion over orders given to Hamilton to preserve fuel, allowing Button to overtake which added to the mounting tension.

Hill reckons all this, plus that desire to win the home race could finally boil over on the track.

“Jenson will not be letting Lewis get away with anything. Your closest most significant competitor is your team-mate and when you’ve got a team-mate as good as Jenson then it’s not a foregone conclusion.

“I know Lewis has the mindset of a driver who sees the normal state of affairs as him being first, which is great, and that’s what you’d expect but perhaps Jenson is a little bit more opportunistic and slightly more mature and realistic about things.

“This could be the start of the rest of the season [for the McLaren relationship].

“Traditionally Silverstone [is] smack in the middle of the summer, smack in the middle of the season, the preliminaries are over and from now on the clock is definitely ticking.

“There is only room for one guy.”

The interesting question is who McLaren want that one guy to be. Publicly they have stated they will let their drivers race for the right to be world champion, but privately they will be wary of an on-track war ruining either the chances of both drivers – not to mention McLaren’s own push for the Constructors Championship.

Red Bull, whose drivers have slipped back to third and fourth in the championship race and trail McLaren by 30 points in the Constructors race, will be hoping that is exactly what happens. Both Vettel and Mark Webber are still well in touch with the British drivers and even Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who trails Hamilton by 29 points, remains in with a shout of the title.

For the good of Formula One I hope Hamilton and Button are allowed to battle it out but they do it sensibly. A return to the heady days of Prost and Senna going head to head for McLaren would fantastic. That it’s a five way battle for the Drivers Championship only adds to the excitement.

Should be a cracking weekend.

As an aside, an interesting question was raised on our Facebook page about who the best driver in Formula One is – I went with Lewis Hamilton, as in my opinion he is the most naturally gifted out there. Mike Shaw disagreed, though he didn’t say who he thought was the best!

So…let’s have your opinions in the comments or on Facebook and Mike – put your money where your mouth is!

Is this turning out to be the best Formula One season in years? I think it might be. The two top teams are swapping poles and one-two finishes with regularity, there are simmering rivalries within each and yesterday’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal was a cracker.

It was McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton starting on pole, breaking Red Bull’s hold on qualifying for the first time in quite a while. Mark Webber started second with team mate Sebastian Vettel in third and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in fourth. Hamilton’s team mate and reigning world champion Jenson Button started fifth on the grid.

What followed was an incident packed race with all the top five in qualifying having the possibility of winning. As it turned out pit stop strategy and traffic allowed Hamilton and Button to clinch a much needed one-two finish for McLaren with Alonso separating the English team from the two Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber respectively.

The win, his second in as many races, puts Hamilton on top of the Drivers Championship, just three points ahead of Button and displacing Mark Webber, while McLaren go top of the Constructors Championship.

After a couple of months of Red Bull dominance, McLaren have dragged themselves – and their drivers – back into serious contention and it looks like it will be nip and tuck for the rest of the season. Red Bull still have the best car, but it seems McLaren have the better brains at the moment.

There was no repeat of the in-team racing that saw Webber and Vettel ruin each others chances in the last Grand Prix and while Button chased down Hamilton’s lead in the last few laps in Canada there wasn’t really any danger of the two going head to head for the lead. Those rivalries remain, however, and it won’t take much for flare up.

Further back in the field frustrated seven time world champion Michael Schumacher was having a nightmare, Not used to being overtaken by upstarts such as Buemi and Liuzzi, he boiled over in an incident with Massa towards the end of the race, seeming to turn into the Brazilian slightly, damaging his front wing. It was referred to the stewards but no further action will be taken.

You have to question Schumacher’s decision to return to the sport. He has nothing to prove and will only tarnish his reputation – especially if he allows his frustrations to get the better of him on the track. His legendary status may have spared him punishment this time round, I don’t know, but any other driver would surely have received some kind of penalty.

Where this year’s title will go is anyone’s guess now. It’s a four way battle between between the drivers of McLaren and Red Bull and it’s fantastic. Hamilton is the form driver right now, Button won’t give up and will grab any opportunity presented to him, Webber is having his best ever season and Vettel has talent oozing out of his pores.

Could go any way.

Vettel ignites Red Bull rivalry

Honest to God, it’s like we’re psychic here at Sporting Fare. No sooner had we speculated on the simmering rivalries at McLaren and Red Bull Sebastian Vettel decided it would be a good idea to run Mark Webber off the road and hand McLaren a one-two at the Turkish Grand Prix last Sunday.

Neither man was willing to accept blame for the collision which put Vettel out of the race and relegated Webber to third behind Hamilton and Button, but for us and almost everybody else the fault lay with Vettel for turning into his team mate. Interestingly, Red Bull boss Christian Horner seemed to find fault with Webber just after the race but we reckon he’ll have had time to reflect since and see that it was all down to Vettel.

Either way, he was rightly furious with his drivers. What should have been a third straight win for Webber and a one-two finish to strengthen Red Bull’s grip on the Constructors Championship was ruined in one moment of madness.

Smug smiles in the McLaren pit though as both Hamilton and Button regained ground in the Drivers Championship. The relationship between the two Englishmen seems to be holding strong in spite of the fact they are fighting each other for the title.

In Turkey they raced one another hard but, as both men pointed out, fairly. In the end both had to switch to fuel saving mode which meant that Hamilton got the win by default after some good racing between the two which saw a couple of overtaking manoeuvres. Team orders are, of course, illegal in F1 now but handily for the teams “saving fuel” remains a legal tactic and you can hardly blame McLaren for making sure both their men finished the race.

We can’t imagine Button was happy to give up the race to Hamilton but he put on an accepting public front. How long he is prepared to do this – or Hamilton for that matter – should the two end up really fighting for the number one spot we’ll have to see.

For now, attention switches firmly to Red Bull, Webber and Vettel. The next Grand Prix is in Canada on June 13th and should Webber out-qualify his team mate for a fourth race in a row you can bet that now obvious rivalry and resentment will once again come to the surface.

It’s starting to look like a four horse race but Red Bull still hold the advantage with a superior car over McLaren. Now they just need to make sure their drivers are, if not on the same page, at least not in the same racing line because McLaren are ready and waiting to take advantage of any mistakes.

This is all what Formula One needs, of course. Team mates racing each other for victories, a tight title race and simmering rivalries. Far, FAR better than a best car wins procession. Loving it.

It has become crystal clear that the Red Bull’s of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel are streets ahead of the rest of the Formula One field when it comes to speed and, increasingly, reliability.

Webber success causing Red Bull friction?

Despite McLaren’s early improvement on a shaky start during which Jenson Button went top of the Drivers rankings Red Bull have stormed through the last three races with Webber leading the charge. He now sits at the top of the rankings, as do Red Bull in the Constructors Championship.

It is no real surprise the Red Bull have the best car on the track. That was clear from the start of the season. What is a surprise is that it is Webber, not Vettel, that has taken up the mantle of World Champion contender.

A while back, we wrote a post anticipating fireworks at McLaren as the current and former World Champions battled it for this year’s title. Cracks were beginning to show as McLaren number one (so many thought) Hamilton struggled to keep pace with Button in the same car. McLaren were gradually switching there focus to Button and Hamilton, understandably, was not happy.

The pair presented a united front in public but such is the driven nature (pun very much intended) of a racing driver that behind closed doors we have no doubt Hamilton was feeling frustrated while Button was feeling slightly smug.

However, with the growing dominance of Red Bull we now wonder if the expected fireworks may now explode in their garage. Vettel was undisputed number one at Red Bull when the season started. Full of promise and talent, Red Bull were fully focused on him to lead their challenge this year.

Webber, though, had other ideas and three pole positions in a row, including for this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix, and two wins in a row in Monaco and Spain has surely given Red Bull pause for thought.

Neither driver was particularly happy with the car in qualifying but nevertheless they sit one and three on the grid, with a confident sounding Hamilton splitting them and Button just behind Vettel. It makes for a fantastic race tomorrow, that’s for sure.

And as Jonathan Legard wrote in his BBC blog on Friday: “The in-house rivalry at Red Bull has become far more intense than many of us bargained for at the start of the season.”

Perhaps more intense than that at McLaren…at least unless or until McLaren retake the initiative in the championship race.