Todt defends Ferrari over Grand Prix finish

Indianapolis (Reuters): Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt has played down the significance of the bizarre finish at the United States Grand Prix on Sunday and insisted that team orders were not implemented.

Five-time world champion Michael Schumacher led the race throughout before slowing as he attempted to manufacture a dead-heat finish with teammate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.

The plan failed as Barrichello was credited with victory at Indianapolis one-hundredth of a second ahead of the German.

It was a reversal of the incident that caused a stir in the Austrian Grand Prix in May when Barrichello was ordered to allow Schumacher to pass him on the final lap and claim a hollow victory.

But Todt told reporters on Monday: "It was not team orders, there was no need for team orders.

"Seriously, the only thing that was said was that after the second pit-stop they should not fight any more and there was no more fighting after the second pit.

"Michael could' have won, but he wanted to have Rubens very close to him which we were very happy about, because you know we love Michael and we love Rubens.

"But we all work for Ferrari and that's the only thing that really does matter for us.

"It was not planned. It just happened like that. I was told it was seven centimeters. For us it isn't something that matters. What does matter is to have two Ferraris first and second."

Todt said the Maranello based team's tactics in Austria had been largely misunderstood.

They have since claimed both the drivers' and constructors' world championships, with Todt adding that the end to the Indianapolis race was a nice outcome from the team's point of view.

"In Austria some people could have had a tougher understanding like thinking it's arrogant, it's typical - but here, honestly, it's among us," Todt said.

"We were not penalizing anybody. In Austria you could say we were penalizing (Juan Pablo) Montoya, who could have had four points, or something different. But here, I think it's a nice thing."

Ferrari was heavily criticized once again with Schumacher's decision to slow described as a "cock-up" by British American Racing team chief David Richards.

But despite the condemnation and claims that the Italian team regard themselves as more important than the sport itself, Todt said he was only interested in achieving the best for Ferrari.

"I think it would be very presumptuous and not humble at all to say that we are controlling everything," he added.

"We are not controlling everything. We do our best, but we don't want drivers to fight against each other if it is not in the interests of the company.

"We are in a sport where we have commercial interests and if we ignore that, we could have long discussions about that.