(Motorsport-Total.com) – Former Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher says that McLaren team principal Andrea Stella should hold back a little following the accusations from Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore, even though he admits that the Formula 1 press conference might not have been the best place for the Italian’s statements.
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Briatore made accusations against one of the judges of the International Court of Appeal in a heated press conference and emphasized that this judge was close to McLaren because he had given a speech for McLaren at an event in 2018, and the cars had been donated to his foundation.
The statements were received with disbelief by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella. The Italian called it “insulting” for McLaren and emphasized that the case was “conducted according to the highest standards,” so it should not be questioned in that way.
For Schumacher, however, Stella’s reaction went one step too far: “Andrea needs to hold back a little,” the German said on Sky, since the accusation was not directed at McLaren but at the judge. “McLaren has nothing to do with which judges are appointed by the FIA.”
Furthermore, there was “obviously” evidence that the judge had received cars from McLaren. “Therefore, I think one should be cautious there.”
On the other hand, he considers Briatore’s accusations to be a “very, very serious allegation,” as he says. Only: “Whether it was the right place to discuss this is debatable.”
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Because clearly: The press conference has brought a lot of attention to the topic. According to Schumacher, the Monaco saga is damaging motorsport as a whole anyway, as the issue has now been dragging on for several months.
He also says that one must distinguish that the cars did not come from McLaren Racing but from the manufacturer’s road car division, which are clearly separate. “You also have to be very careful there,” he says.
In general, he thinks that the appointment of Filippo Marchino, the name of the steward, was “not quite optimal” due to the background, even though Alpine theoretically had the right to object to his deployment.
“But I don’t think it would have made a difference to the result,” he says. “But still, you have to be careful with such things. Flavio might have a point in this case.”
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