Ferrari uses Indian Formula 1 Grand Prix to support 2 Italian sailors

Italian automotive company Ferrari is using the Formula One Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, near Delhi, to protest court proceedings in India against two Italian sailors who shot dead two Indian fishermen on the Indian coast for no reason.

Ferrari will race with the flag of the Italian navy on their cars at the Indian Formula One Grand Prix, in a gesture of support for two Italian sailors charged with killing Indian fishermen

However, Ferrari today issued a statement saying they had put the flag on their cars as a tribute to "one of our country's outstanding institutions".

Ferrari, in fact, overwrote another statement published on their website (www.ferrari.com) earlier in the week that had also hoped the sailors' situation would be resolved.

Driver Fernando Alonso of Spain, however, will continue to display the Italian navy flag on his Ferrari in what Indian authorities see as an Italian government-sponsored political gesture of support for the two Italian navy sailors charged with killing Indian fishermen.

While Indian authorities are not amused, the Formula 1 team has left it to the Italian and Indian governments to resolve.