http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/8864978.stm Originally Posted by
The words "Fernando is faster than you" are sure to pass into Formula 1 legend, but I heard them from Ferrari around 20 laps before the infamous radio communication was given.
Immediately after the pit stops, I went into the Ferrari garage. The team's spokesman Luca Colajanni was talking to my colleague from RAI, Italy's main TV network. This is quite a common occurrence: Ferrari listen to RAI commentary during the race and there is always communication between team and broadcaster.
Once finished in Italian, I asked what the team were saying to the drivers and what the situation was. At that time, Felipe Massa was just starting to pull away from Fernando Alonso.
Colajanni said the race was progressing as normal, that the cars were running well, but then added "but as you can see, Fernando is faster".
This had been the case all weekend, as Alonso explained in the highly-charged post race press conference. Ferrari were only too well aware of this fact.
I went back to the McLaren garage next door to check on their progress, but could see quite a discussion taking place on the Ferrari pit wall. Team principal Stefano Domenicali was busy talking to chief engineer Chris Dyer. At one point, I saw Dyer put his hand up, with a flat palm. It was the kind of gesture policemen use to stop traffic.
Soon after, Massa pulled out a three-second gap on Alonso. The discussions continued. Massa's race engineer Rob Smedley was on the radio to Felipe every lap. At one point we heard him telling Felipe to concentrate. "The gap is three seconds, keep this going, and you can win", assured Smedley.
But Alonso closed the gap and the rest is history. There were more discussions between Domenicali, Dyer, Smedley and Alonso's engineer Andrea Stella during the five or so laps before lap 48, but once the move was made, all discussions stopped