Ferrari has accused rival team Williams of showing no sense of fair play in its refusal to allow Michael Schumacher a special familiarisation test in the Maranello squad’s current car.
The 40-year-old German is set to make his return to Formula 1 competition at Valencia as a stand-in for the injured Felipe Massa, and will continue to race for his old team until Massa is fit enough to drive again.
Schumacher tested a two-year-old F2007 at Mugello last Friday, but Ferrari’s plan to give him a one-day outing in the 2009 machine was blocked by opposition from Williams and the two Red Bull-owned squads, who felt it would be unfair to waive F1’s in-season testing ban for the seven-time world champion.
Ferrari has not taken the opposition kindly, posting a terse response on its website on Tuesday in which it singled out Williams for criticism.
A news item entitled 'Indiscretion' read: “Guess who opposed the test with the F60?”
“A team that hasn’t won anything for years and yet didn’t pass over the opportunity to demonstrate once more a lack of spirit of fair play.”
Williams argued that it would be unfair to grant Schumacher a special test when no such allowance was made for 19-year-old Jaime Alguersuari, who wasn't given the opportunity to test Toro Rosso’s STR4 before his F1 debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“Williams F1 sees no distinction between Alguersuari’s situation and Schumacher’s and feels that any deviation from the rule would create a precedent for the future,” the Grove-based team said on Monday.
“In a similar situation, Williams F1 would unhesitatingly use its current test driver.
“For the sake of consistency and fairness, therefore, we oppose Ferrari’s proposal to test ahead of the European Grand Prix.”
Ferrari retorted that it had been prepared to let Alguersuari have a pre-race test but was overruled.
“Just for the record, Scuderia Ferrari had given its approval to let Alguersuari test, but it seems even in this instance someone decided to stick to the precise wording of the regulations,” said the Italian team
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