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Andrew, firstly, given that this thread is really about Mclaren and their 'strategy' i think it's only reasonable we stick to it. Constantly dragging Ferrari into this incident doesn't justify anything.
Melbourne 98, i think you'd find many versions from Ron. Post-race, he said it's DC's call, but when DC moved to Redbull, he said it was Ron's call, and after Monaco, Ron in effect said that Melbourne 98 was a team call (ie not DC's voluntary act).
Interesting you brought up 99. Yes, Michael drove a hard race in Sepang, and Mika said it was one of the toughest race he drove. MS simply held him back. I don't know what you were trying to say about DC doing that back because MS is not contending for WDC in 1999.
However, i believe you may be talkiing about a particular season finale (2000, Japan?), where DC held MS up while being lapped, and that i am pretty sure isn't quite right. Sepang 99 MS vs Mika is a fight for 2nd, not lapped.
Furthermore, it may be hard for you to comprehend, but in terms of quality/proven, I think Rubens and Massa are as talented as any teammates Alonso or Mika had in their championship challenging years, if not more. And much better than JV or Frentzen. And as much as you try to believe otherwise, Mika and Alonso had just as much "help' from their teammates in the years that they won their WDCs too, and Alonso has not made it a secret of his desire to be in a "no.1" status with a teammate to help.
And team orders were very specifically disallowed AFTER Austria 2002, and you may find it that Ferrari issues you raised happened before.
And once again, incidents like Jerez 97, and Spa 2000 are overlooked, where Mclaren are suspiciously having made some interesting "strategic" calls.
But back to topic directly, the FIA statement is out, and the outcome is expected. There is simply no way FIA can punish Mclaren without raising an eyebrow, for its ridiculous to disallow teams from making calls such as "holding station" or detect manipulated pitstops. And rightly so, team orders are much part of the game, from the early years of Gilles right til today... I believe that there is a line to draw within professional and unprofessional calls, and a team is allowed to order within their team who they wish to win, as long as they do not deliberately fix results with other teams or set the 2nd driver to be a road barge or menace.
It's unforunate that the British media and paranoid fans 'forced' FIA to act and even investigate, as any wrong decisions may set a dangerous precedence.
Too bad that a dominant display of pace, and the 150th landmark win (which could not have been at a better place), is being clouded by an unneccessary uproar triggered by Hamilton's harmless yet cheeky "i am the no.2 driver" comment.
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