PARIS - Formula One's governing body decided Wednesday not to impose any further sanction on Ferrari for breaking rules on team orders at the German Grand Prix.
The FIA said in a statement after a day-long meeting in Paris that its World Motor Sport Council only upheld the US$100,000 fine that was imposed on July 25 at Hockenheim when Ferrari driver Felipe Massa let teammate Fernando Alonso overtake him to win the race.
The council could have stripped Alonso of the victory or docked the team points or imposed a further fine. However, the FIA said that "after an in-depth analysis of all reports, statements and documents submitted, the judging body has decided to confirm the stewards' decision of a $100,000 fine."
The FIA also said it would review the ban on team orders, which was introduced following the 2002 season after Ferrari ordered Rubens Barrichello to hand victory to Michael Schumacher in the Austrian Grand Prix.
Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali, who attended the Paris hearing, said the decision to review the rule was a "very important step towards transparency."
"We really appreciated the fact that the World Council took into consideration the fact that the rule has, in a way, to be amended," Domenicali told reporters. "It is important to be 100 per cent transparent. This is probably the good thing of the day."
Ferrari issued a statement to "express its appreciation of the council's proposal to review" the rule, and said that "now, all the team's efforts will be focused on the next event on track, when the Italian Grand Prix takes place at Monza this weekend."
Massa led for 49 of 67 laps in Germany before allowing Alonso to pass him following Ferrari radio messages.
Had Alonso been stripped of the race victory, he would have fallen 66 points behind current leader Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' standings and would have lost his remaining hopes of winning a third world title.
But with six races left in the season, including Sunday's Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Alonso remains 41 points behind Hamilton — who leads with 182 points.
Domenicali has maintained Ferrari didn't give explicit orders to Massa at the German race, although the Brazilian driver received a message from race engineer Rob Smedley saying Alonso was faster than him.
The radio message was seen as a clear order to let his teammate pass him, but Massa said after the race it was his decision to slow down.
"In my opinion this was not a case of team orders: my engineer kept me constantly informed on what was going on behind me, especially when I was struggling a bit on the hard tires," Massa said. "So I decided to do the best thing for the team."
Domenicali said he and the team's lawyers kept the same line of defence during the hearing but didn't elaborate. He confirmed Massa and Alonso were not in Paris and said they were not asked to testify via video-conferencing.
FIA president Jean Todt acknowledged that the article 39.1 of the 2010 Sporting Regulations, which bans team orders that interfere with a race result, has to be amended.
"It is not adapted (to Formula One). Definitely we know that since team orders are forbidden, it is not respected," Todt said. "Ferrari has organized something and they probably did not tell exactly what happened. Everybody denied it was team orders. But I feel that Ferrari drivers would have finished 1st and 2nd anyway in that race."
Todt didn't chair the hearing to avoid any conflict of interest. The Frenchman is a former Ferrari CEO and served as team principal from 1993 to 2007.
The hearing was instead chaired by FIA deputy president for sport Graham Stoker.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone welcomed the ruling and told The Associated Press "this is a correct decision."