Ferrari summoned for 'team orders' trial

(GETTY IMAGES)

Ferrari are to go before the World Motor Sport Council just four days prior to their home grand prix next month as they look to avoid further punishment over the recent "team orders" furore.

Motorsport's world governing body, the FIA, has confirmed Ferrari will face a disciplinary hearing in Paris on 8 September, with the Italian Grand Prix the following Sunday. However, due to an obvious conflict of interest, FIA president and former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt will not stand as chair, the position falling to Nick Craw, the FIA deputy president for sport.

The team was fined $100,000 (£65,000) by the stewards at the German Grand Prix last month, who declared Ferrari in breach of article 39.1 of the FIA 2010 sporting regulations that states "team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited". They were also charged with a breach of article 151c, relating to "any fraudulent conduct, or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motorsport generally". The stewards were forced to investigate after Felipe Massa slowed on lap 49 at Hockenheim to allow team-mate Fernando Alonso to pass him.

Meanwhile, F1 steward and former driver Derek Warwick has claimed that Michael Schumacher could have been disqualified from Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix after almost pushing former team-mate Rubens Barrichello into the pit wall.

Schumacher was handed a 10-place grid penalty to be served at Spa later this month but Warwick said he wished he could have enforced a tougher sanction.