F1 Team Orders: Are they really good for the team?

Team orders has always been a part of F1 for a long time now. And it has also been the ingredient behind the spiciest of stories and the nastiest of spats. After the Multi 21 fiasco by Red Bull, here’s a look at Team Orders from both sides of the fence.

The earliest recorded team order was given in the 1951 season. During the French Grand Prix, Luigi Fagioli was asked to give over his car to the indomitable Fangio after his car hit engine trouble. The duo swapped cars and Fangio duly completed the win. Since that time, there have been numerous instances of team orders being implemented. A few team orders weren’t actually team orders but driver pacts. Two drivers of the same team made a pact to guarantee themselves a winning position based on a particular result.

The most famous example is the 1998 Australian Grand Prix. Mclaren-Mercedes team mates Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard were leading the race 1-2. There was a miscommunication between the pitwall and Mika, and he came in for a pitstop. The team, realizing its mistake, asked him to continue without pitting but he lost the lead to Coulthard. But two laps from the end, Couthard ceded position to Häkkinen and let him take the win. It was later revealed that the two drivers had made a pact that whoever was leading the race at the first corner would take the win.

Team orders aren’t as simple and innocent as the above examples made it look. During the 1989 San Marino Grand Prix, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, team mates at McLaren, had made a driver’s pact that whoever would take the lead into the first corner would go on and win the race. But Senna didn’t abide by the agreement and when the race was restarted after Berger’s crash, Senna went on to win with Prost second. Also, in the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, Rubens Barrichello was asked to move over for team mate Michael Schumacher. This incident made team Ferrari as well as team orders hugely unpopular as Schumacher had an easy lead in the drivers championship. Schumacher himself did not condone the decision and as a result, refused to stand on the top step of the podium, reserved for the winner during the post race presentation.

The above examples may have helped you form an opinion on whether team orders are necessary or whether it’s just a loss for everyone involved. BUT, since most of the examples are too old to really have much significance, they won’t be of too much help to the current generation of Motorsports junkies.

To bring things into perspective, let us discuss two team orders that were given during the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix and their subsequent consequences.

During the closing stages of the race, Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing was leading the race while his teammate Sebestian Vettel was second. The two drivers were ordered to hold their positions till the end of the race. But Vettel chose to ignore that order and recklessly overtook Webber during the closing stages, stealing a win from under his team mate’s nose. Though initially remorseful, Vettel later changed his stance and said that he would do the same thing if a similar situation presented itself. This led to a lot of tensions within the team, and it remains to be seen what happens if the both of them are in a similar position in another grand prix.

Mercedes also instructed their drivers to hold position till the end of the race. This resulted in Lewis Hamilton scoring his maiden podium for the team even though Nico Rosberg was the faster driver.

To understand more about this situation, let us go through the basics of team orders. Team order is a directive or order by the team to ensure that one or both of their drivers end up doing something against the normal rules of racing. It is generally used to ensure that the team gets an advantage of some sort, either in the drivers championship or in the constructors championship, hence the name Team Orders.

Now that the water has passed under the bridge, let us analyze the decisions that the two teams had made.

Nowadays, every point holds huge value, be it the drivers championship or the constructors championship. Also, with only eight engines available throughout the season and gearboxes needing to last five races, unnecessary wear and tear on the cars also makes no sense. Thus, that is what might have prompted Red Bull to issue the team orders that it did. Another notable point of concern is the history between the two drivers. Both Webber and Vettel are very competitive by nature and haven’t had the best of relationships. The team also must have thought about Turkey last year when both of them collided with each other. This could be another important reason for the issuance of team orders on Red Bull Racing’s part.

But they will now have to deal with pretty complicated consequences as a result of Vettel ignoring that order. How they do it remains to be seen.

Mercedes GP, on the other hand, have made a pretty good decision, in hindsight. With Rosberg collecting 2 DNF’s in 3 races, he doesn’t seem a strong contender for the championship. Hamilton, on the other hand, with another podium finish in China has showed that he is clearly the stronger driver in the team. He is also being seen as an outside threat to the drivers championship, provided that Mercedes can keep up with the development race.

So, based on the history of team orders as well as some current results, we can say that team orders are a necessary evil. But it also comes with its own set of risks, which, if it happens, is enough to put any team under a lot of pressure.