![\"Bernie-Ecclestone-2\"](\"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/gallery\/f1-2012-rif-images\/f1-12-people\/Bernie-Ecclestone-2.jpg\")
The controversy erupted when video footage emerged – and was circulated widely by “Fernando Alonso’s management” according to Sport Bild – of Sebastian Vettel purportedly overtaking illegally under yellow flag conditions at Interlagos.<\/p>\nBernie Ecclestone has slammed as a “complete joke” Ferrari’s efforts to question the outcome of the 2012 world championship.<\/p>\n
The controversy erupted when video footage emerged – and was circulated widely by “Fernando Alonso’s management” according to Sport Bild – of Sebastian Vettel purportedly overtaking illegally under yellow flag conditions at Interlagos.<\/p>\n
Ferrari confirmed that it asked the governing body for “clarification”, and spokesman Luca Colajanni insists the Maranello team has “until tomorrow (Friday) to file an appeal”.<\/p>\n
British newspapers quote F1 chief executive Ecclestone as blasting the affair “a complete joke”.<\/p>\n
“It was a super race, a super championship.\u00a0 Now everyone is talking about this,” he said.<\/p>\n
Ecclestone said the subsequent furore is a “joke” because of the “fact” that Vettel overtook only once he had passed a waving green flag.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think there needs to be any action taken.\u00a0 It’s completely and utterly wrong,” he added.<\/p>\n
“It’s a very silly, bad thing for anyone to do to push this because there is nothing in it.\u00a0 Ferrari had a great season but this was a mistake.”<\/p>\n
And he told Germany’s Der Spiegel: “Vettel will suffer no consequence and will remain the 2012 world champion.”<\/p>\n
Indeed, FIA spokesman Norman Howell indicated that the Paris federation will now spell out the news to Ferrari in a formal letter of response.<\/p>\n
“Now that Ferrari has sent us a letter asking for an explanation we will give it to them,” he said.<\/p>\n
F1 race director Charlie Whiting added: “We never had any doubt that Vettel’s overtaking was compliant.<\/p>\n
“There were conflicting flags and lights,” he acknowledged to Germany’s Sport Bild.\u00a0 “It was investigated during the race, with the result that there should be no punishment.”<\/p>\n
An FIA spokesman added: “Vettel’s title is not in danger.\u00a0 A further investigation will not happen.”<\/p>\n
However, Ecclestone acknowledged that another route open to Ferrari is civil action.<\/p>\n
“But the case is flawed before it starts,” he told the Telegraph.\u00a0 “Nothing is going to happen.”<\/p>\n
But what has happened already is the criticism of Ferrari and Spaniard Alonso.\u00a0 Germany’s Berliner Kurier accused them of being “sore losers”.<\/p>\n
And the Bild-Zeitung daily said the efforts to have Vettel’s championship overturned are “Unfair.\u00a0 Un-ferrari”.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bernie Ecclestone has slammed as a “complete joke” Ferrari’s efforts to question the outcome of the 2012 world championship. The controversy erupted when video footage emerged – and was circulated widely by “Fernando Alonso’s management” according to Sport Bild – of Sebastian Vettel purportedly overtaking illegally under yellow flag conditions at Interlagos. Ferrari confirmed that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[2120,3],"tags":[59,810,5262,149,93,5300,5340,2019,4111,129,164],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17251,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17250\/revisions\/17251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}