Buying team order for $100,000 ’stupid’ - Whitmarsh

Other teams would be "stupid" to see Wednesday’s FIA ruling as a green light to use team orders.

That is the opinion of McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh, after his Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner hinted that he might need to now deploy team orders to secure the 2010 title.

"We are going to look like idiots if we end up losing the title by five points after allowing Mark and Sebastian to race," said Horner, insisting that a "precedent" has now been set for team orders to be penalised with only a $100,000 fine.

But Whitmarsh doesn’t see it that way.

When asked by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport if McLaren would consider ’buying’ a team order in 2010 for $100,000, he answered: "It would be pretty stupid to interpret the (FIA) ruling like that."

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone thinks teams should be free to deploy team orders, but he said the current rules should be respected until they can be changed.

"The rules are still in place," he insisted at Monza.

"I think the teams will respect the rule as much as they can as long as it remains," added Ecclestone.