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Fernando Alonso secretly turned up his engine while chasing teammate Felipe Massa, the official FIA inquiry into the German Grand Prix team orders saga has revealed

The dramatic new twist to events at Hockenheim was detailed in the nine page judgement from by the World Council Thursday.

The double champion has always insisted he should have been allowed to win at Hockenheim because he was faster for the whole of the two previous days, and the faster of the duo at the time.

Although he could not pass he told the team by radio he was the faster man.

But the FIA investigator revealed that prior to the radio communications at the centre of the team orders saga Ferrari told both drivers to turn down their engines.

The FIA investigator "considers that Ferrari’s argument relating to the fact that Mr Fernando Alonso was faster than Mr Felipe Massa appears not to hold up.

"Indeed a few laps prior to the contentious overtaking Ferrari’s drivers reduced their engine speed at the request of their respective race engineers

"Then Mr Fernando Alonso increased his engine speed without Mr Felipe Massa being informed.

"Mr Fernando Alonso was therefore benefitting from a definite performance advantage over Mr Felipe Massa in the moments proceeding the contentious."

The revelation is sure to sour poor relations between the two Ferrari drivers and drag them to an all-time low - and not least because Ferrari's data loggers would have been sure to know what Alonso had done but the Brazilian was never told by the pitwall.

Investigator, Lars Osterlind, who produced a 260 page report, added the use of the term "sorry" by Massa’s engineer to his driver "are revealing of the fact that Massa allowed Alonso to overtake following a team order".

And he decided that team orders had been used and they did interfere with the results of the race.

But the Council took into consideration the argument by Ferrari lawyers that previous incidents of drivers swopping position had not led to official action.

They protested that punishing Ferrari further therefore would be iniquitous.

They cited Heikki Kovalainen allowing Lewis Hamilton to pass in the German Grand Prix in 2008, the year he went on to win the world title.

Then the Red Bull drivers collision at the Turkey race in 2010 and Maranello lawyers added the McLaren order to Hamilton and Jenson Button "save fuel" while leading the same race could have been a coded instruction to hold position.

The investigator gave the Council three options: a £65,000 fine, five second penalty for Alonso or a suspended withdrawal of points for the 2010 season.

Some observers regard all three options as lenient in view of the fact that the investigator and the Council decided the team orders rule had been broken and the sport had been bought into disrepute.

The decision was "It became common ground during the hearing that the drivers should not be penalised, and with the ambiguities in the rule recognised it would not be appropriate to increase the overall penalty."

But since, they added, " a breach of the rules was established and the stewards decision was entirely upheld " Ferrari should pay the FIA’s costs.

And a review of the team orders regulations was also launched.

Ferrari have seven days to lodge an appeal but are unlikely to do so.