Sunday August 29th, 1999

Williams technical director Patrick Head lashed out at Ferrari today, going as far as saying they are not worthy of either championships - which he hopes they will not win. A bitter Head spoke after the Belgian Grand Prix where, he believes, Ferrari had told Salo to block Williams' Ralf Schumacher, so he would not be able to challenge Eddie Irvine in fourth place. Young Schumacher eventually finished in fifth, whereas Salo finish seventh.

"Unfortunately Ralf fell foul of Ferrari's cynical approach in running a one-car team with a blocking tactic to protect Irvine's position and I am very surprised that Mika Salo was prepared to accept such orders from the pits," Head said. "Ferrari has been doing this for the last number of years and I have to say that I very much appreciate the more sporting approach of McLaren in running a two-car team. They will thoroughly deserve the drivers' and manufacturers' championship which I hope they achieve this year."

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn denied the allegations and said: "As far as I'm concerned we beat them on strategy and that's what counts."