| Paddy Power Refund All Massa Bets After German GP Farce |
Various bookmakers are refunding all bets placed on Massa to win Sunday's German Grand Prix as Massa was ordered, by team Ferrari, to let Alonso pass him and, subsequently, win the race.Bookmakers Paddy Power will reimburse, to the tune of over £15,000, the hundreds of people who would have correctly bet on Massa winning the race. Although punters would still be annoyed at not making the profit they deserved, bookies like Paddy Power are doing everything in their power to help ease their customers' pain.
A Paddy Power representative commented: “What a joke! What chances do punters have when drivers are pulling in to let their team-mate past. Massa would have won the race, so anyone who backed him shouldn't lose out. Getting their money back won't right the wrong, but it might make it easier to swallow.”
Felipe Massa was leading Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso with 18 laps to go when Ferrari race engineer, Rob Smedley, told Massa – via an unsubtle code – to let Alonso pass him (as he had a much better chance of winning the title than the Brazilian former World Champion): “Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand?”
Moments later, second place Alonso overtook Massa and went on to win, gaining seven extra points in the title race; he is now only 34 points behind championship leader Hamilton.
This isn't, of course, the first time race fixing has occurred. In 2008, Nelson Piquet Jr was ordered by Renault to crash his car at the Singapore Grand Prix, resulting in Alonso finishing first.
Ferrari have been fined $100,000 for breaching formula one regulations, but worse could follow at an FIA meeting to be held next month. In fact, Paddy Power are offering 10/1 odds that the FIA will alter the final race standings.
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