Ecclestone in warning over Ferrari tactics

Bernie Ecclestone entered the Ferrari debate with characteristic bluntness yesterday, saying they would be ill-advised to repeat their Austrian strategy in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.

For good measure, the head of Formula One's commercial affairs suggested that Ferrari might come to the aid of smaller teams by supplying them with chassis to ameliorate their financial difficulties.

Ferrari are to appear at an FAI hearing next month to explain their actions on the circuit and on the podium at the A1-Ring and the sport's governing body may be influenced by the team's tactics in this race. Ferrari stand by their decision to instruct Rubens Barrichello to make way for Michael Schumacher in Austria, but there were signs yesterday that they may have been encouraged to reconsider their strategy.

The hostile reaction of the public and media took the Ferrari hierarchy by surprise and they will have been given an indication of the authority's concerns about the image of their product, even though previous rulings have recognised a team's rights to determine the finishing order of their cars.

Ecclestone pointed out that he did not wish to say anything which might be deemed prejudicial to the hearing, but he did offer: "I think Ferrari would be ill-advised to do the same thing again.''

Ferrari are effectively on probation for the next three races. The feeling among members of the jury is that they are in such a strong position this year that they do not have to manipulate results. Schumacher is 27 points clear of his closest challenger, Williams-BMW's Juan Pablo Montoya.

The irony, of course, is that the Austrian controversy has generated the kind of publicity Formula One could not buy, but Ecclestone warns that some teams are struggling to stay afloat and that two of them could follow Prost on to the scrap heap.

Ecclestone said: "It could be better for teams like Jordan to forget about building their own cars and concentrate on developing chassis supplied by manufacturers such as Ferrari.''

Jordan's team owner, Eddie Jordan, lent his support to Ferrari's embattled sporting director, Jean Todt. Jordan said: "We are all jealous of this guy. Only once have Jordan been in the position to finish first and second and I took the management decision, at Spa, in 1998, to ensure Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher held their positions in the closing stages... Give this guy [Todt] a break. Good luck to them, they've done a great job. They should be applauded.''

Todt palpably enjoyed the massage to his ego and reiterated Ferrari's belief that they were entitled to issue team orders to ensure success. He said: "Michael had a similar lead in 2000 and with three races left was behind.'' But he added: "We'll take the reaction into consideration in future.''

Yesterday's practice times provided a diversion from the Ferrari fall-out and Formula One's other troubles. Jarno Trulli, overshadowed for much of the season by his team-mate at Renault, Jenson Button, was fastest, followed by Allan McNish, similarly outperformed for much of the season by his team-mate at Toyota, Mika Salo. Barrichello was seventh, Michael Schumacher 11th. McNish's quickest lap improved on last year's pole time and was eclipsed only in the closing moments by Trulli.

McNish's countryman David Coulthard was third in his McLaren-Mercedes, which was encouraging after a largely ineffectual early season. His team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, was one of many to hit the barriers. Button was another, although he had registered the 10th-fastest time. Eddie Irvine was 20th in a Jaguar.

Mika Hakkinen, the Finn who is taking a sabbatical after winning the championship twice with McLaren, strolled down from his home here in his first appearance at a Formula One paddock this season.

Hakkinen did not, however, throw much light on his future. He said he had "several weeks'' to decide whether to make a comeback but expected a McLaren job to be available should he wish to do so.