Ferrari was advised to let Kubica through

Alonso was given a drive-through at Silverstone after overtaking Renault's Kubica by going off track.

The penalty, which Ferrari felt was too harsh, ruined Alonso's chances of a good result, the Spaniard finishing down in 14th position.

Although the penalty was given nine laps after Alonso passed Kubica, Whiting said Ferrari was advised to let Kubica through immediately, but that the team decided against it.

"We told Ferrari three times that in my opinion they should give the position back to Kubica," Whiting was quoted as saying by Autosprint magazine.

"And we told them that immediately, right after the overtaking manoeuvre. On the radio, I suggested to them that if they exchange position again, there would be no need for the stewards to intervene.

"But they didn't do that and on the third communication they said that Kubica was by then too far back to let him regain the position.

"It's not true at all that the stewards took too long to decide. For us the facts were clear immediately: Alonso had gained an advantage by cutting the track."

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said the team did not ask Alonso to let Kubica through because it did not feel the Spaniard has gained an advantage.

"He tried to be aggressive to overtake, and we complained the drivers not to be aggressive and we complain about the lack of overtaking, and so at that stage, we felt as we normally do at that moment that we need to go on the radio with race control to check what is the position," Domenicali said.

"And normally, we take the right time to discuss with race control to make the judgement, and the moment when race control give us the instruction to give back the position to Robert, it was clear that Robert had already lost a lot of time - effectively he had a problem and he came back. That is the situation we analysed.

"You can have a situation where immediately there is a possibility to give back the position to a driver if you feel that there is really an advantage that you gain. On our side we felt that was not the case otherwise we would have done it."

Domenicali said that by the time the stewards told them Alonso should let Kubica by, the Pole was already too far behind.

Kubica retired from the race moments later with mechanical problems.

"As soon as we received the information that in the opinion of the stewards, Fernando should have given back the position to Robert, Robert was already very far behind and Robert was really slowing down because he had a problem."

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FERRARI 'NOT ASKED' TO LET KUBICA PASS

Ferrari was not given an immediate order by the FIA for Fernando Alonso to give back his position to Robert Kubica at Silverstone, according to newly-published information relating to the pit wall radio conversations that took place during the British Grand Prix.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting told Italian magazine Autosprint earlier this week that he advised Ferrari straight away to let Kubica retake his position from Alonso.

However, according to a detailed report in Gazzetta dello Sport today, the team's version of events is very different.

Massimo Rivola, Ferrari's team manager, told the newspaper: "This is not polemics, these are elements to clarify why Ferrari made certain decisions and the logic behind them, after Alonso's move on Kubica."

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, this is the chronology of the events from Ferrari's perspective.

13:31:05 The overtaking move takes place at Club and after one second Rivola calls Whiting, who replies after 11 seconds. Rivola asks: 'Have you seen the pass? In our opinion there was no room to overtake.'

26 secs after the pass, Whiting asks to be given time to watch the TV footage.

13:33 Ferrari makes a second radio call - 1m55s after the pass. Alonso has completed another lap plus one sector, and is behind Nico Rosberg and Jaime Alguersuari, while Kubica drops further back.

Whiting tells Ferrari that the stewards think Alonso could give the position back. Rivola asks: 'Is this the decision?'

Whiting replies: 'No, but that's how we see it.'

Rivola informs the team while Rosberg overtakes Alguersuari. On the GPS screen that shows the position of the cars, Ferrari sees Kubica dropping further back. Meanwhile, Alonso overtakes Alguersuari at Turn 2.

13:33:22 Ferrari makes a third radio call.

Rivola tells Whiting: 'Alonso doesn't have only Kubica behind. He would have to concede two positions now.'

While they discuss the matter Kubica is overtaken by Barrichello so Alonso would have to now give up three positions.

Whiting replies: 'We have given you the chance to do it or not. Things being this way, the stewards will hear the drivers at the end of the race, but I understand your position.'

13:35:30 Kubica stops so Alonso can no longer give the position back.

13:45:31 The stewards investigate the Alonso/Kubica incident. The monitors then display 'car number 8 under investigation', 14m26s after the pass.

13:46:26 Just 55 seconds later the stewards decide that Alonso should have a drive-through penalty.

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