Whilst the majority of the F1 world was quick to condemn Ferrari over last month's crassly-handled Hockenheim 'team orders' controversy, the Prancing Horse has at least found two allies in the shape of former grand prix aces Gerhard Berger💝 and Nelsinho Piquet, both of whom argue it was the only logical move to make.

Ferrari found itself fined $100,000 for having distinctly unsubtly manoeuvred race leader Felipe Massa out of the way in the German Grand Prix in order to enable team-mate Fernando Alonso to triumph, thereby boosting the Spaniard's chances of a third world championship crown at the highest level as the season sprints towards its last seven races - but in so doing clearly contravening the ban on team orders in the top flight that had been brought in back in 2002 for a similarly blatant crime, also committed by the Scuderia in Austria.

The team could yet face further sanctions in front of the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) at a disciplinary hearing in Paris early next month - but Piquet and Berger contend that in such a tight battle for glory as it is this year, it is only natural to favour the driver who is comfortably the better bet in terms o🗹f the title chase.

"It's hard for Massa that Alonso came into the team later but is faster," acknowledged Piquet - who similarly 'helped' the Oviedo native to the top step of the podium in Singapore two years ago by so famously orchestrating a deliberate crash that brought out the safety car and almost earned Renault an outright ban from the sport - in an interview with Brazilian news magazine Istoe

"Ferrari will not miss an opportunity to give a driver the opportunity to c꧟lose the gap to the championship leaders. If Massa doesn't want this to happen, then he has to work out a way to go faster than Alonso - there's nothing else he can do. If he had been ahead of Al♔onso in the championship, it would have been him going past."

"Let's not kid ourselves - Alonso is clearly the better man in the team, their only chance for the world championship," agreed ten-time grand prix-winner Berger, speaking to German publication Auto Motor und Sport as he hinted that the 2005 and 2006 title-winner would not have moved to Maranello on the understanding that he would be anything other than the number one driver there. "[Ferrari President Luca di] Montezemolo went shopping for him, and he is goi💛ng to play this card as hard as he can."