Ferrari slams Williams over Schu test veto

UPDATE (GMM) Despite a spokesman earlier saying Williams' veto was "fair enough", Ferrari has now slammed its British team rival for blocking Michael Schumacher's test in the current F60 car.

Red Bull's two teams also did not support Ferrari's request for an exemption from the test ban for returnee Schumacher, but it was Williams who bore the brunt of the Italian squad's anger.

"Guess who opposed the test with the F60?" said Ferrari in a note titled 'Indiscretion' on its official website on Tuesday.

"A team that hasn't won anything for years and yet didn't pass over the opportunity to demonstrate once more a lack of spirit of fair play," the note charged.

Ferrari also played down the comparison with Jaime Alguersuari's recent debut without prior testing in Hungary, revealing that the Maranello team did give its approval for a pre-race run for the Spanish teenager.

"It seems even in this instance someone decided to stick to the precise wording of the regulations," Ferrari added.

08/04/09 (GMM) Michael Schumacher and Ferrari have apparently accepted the fact they will not be able to test the F60 prior to the seven time world champion's formula one return in Spain later this month.

The Italian team had asked its nine on-track rivals and the FIA for an exemption from the in-season test ban so that Schumacher, 40, may acquaint with injured Felipe Massa's car.

Initially, Williams made clear its opposition to the plans, which amid the need for total unanimity was akin to a veto.

According to the Bloomberg news service, Ferrari's spokesman Luca Colajanni reacted: "If Williams says this, then fair enough."

Later, Red Bull's two teams Red Bull and Toro Rosso indicated they too would not be voting for the request for a dispensation, meaning that Schumacher's next test this week is likely to again be at the wheel of a two-year-old F2007 instead.

"From the beginning it was clear that in all probability there would not be a test with the new car," Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said on the Blickpunkt Sport program.