Mosley says some team orders are allowed

   Copyright c 1998 Nando Media
   Copyright c 1998 Reuters

PARIS (Jul 29, 1998 - 13:58 EDT) - FIA president Max Mosley said on
Wednesday that not all team orders in Formula One motor racing are banned.

He also told a news conference that race stewards involved in a
controversial decision during the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July
12 had handed in their licences to motor racing's governing body.

FIA declared in March that team orders were prohibited after the
season-opening Australian Grand Prix in which McLaren's David Coulthard
allowed his Finnish team mate Mika Hakkinen win.

Ferrari then aroused suspicions of team orders at the weekend when Eddie
Irvine slowed gradually at the Austrian Grand Prix while in third place and
allowed team mate Michael Schumacher past over the final laps.

Mosley clarified the legal situation on Wednesday.

"Team orders are not prohibited when they are made in the interests of
winning the (world) championship," he said at the FIAs Paris
headquarters.

"They are not allowed when they interfere with the results in the
competition... when it is an act prejudicial to the interests of the
competition," he said.

"It's been like that since time immemorial," he said.

Schumacher is second in the world championship standings behind Hakkinen,
who won in Austria, and by overtaking Irvine gained an extra point that
could prove of crucial importance.

Irvine did not appear in any trouble and could have taken third place
himself, but there were no protests over his apparently lessening the pace
deliberately.

Mosley said that the FIAs world council, which held an extraordinary
meeting in Paris on Wednesday, had "taken organisational measures to
avoid a repeat" of the incident at Silverstone on July 12.

McLaren protested after Schumacher escaped punishment for ignoring a yellow
flag during the race which he won after mistakes were made by the
Silverstone stewards.

The International Court of Appeal rejected an appeal by McLaren on Monday
and FIA said the Silverstone result stood.

Mosley said the stewards, present at Wednesday's meeting, would be able to
apply for their licences to be returned.

He defended their reputation as extremely experienced and competent
officials who were working under extreme pressure in dangerous weather
conditions at Silverstone.

He said the stewards, having seen the video recording of the race, agreed
they would not have penalised Schumacher if they had known then that the
German clearly had not seen the flag.

FIA said they had tightened regulations concerning the relationship between
the race director and the stewards during the race.

Stewards will only act on a written report from the race director stating
the circumstance of the incident, the time it took place and the lap on
which it occurred.

It is then the race director's responsibility, rather than the stewards',
to put any decision by the stewards on the race video monitors immediately
and inform the teams concerned.

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