Are team orders in Formula 1 justified? – Formula 1 Special
Team orders is a commonly used term in motorsports. The main purpose of team orders is to provide advantage to the driver who has more chances to win the championship by preventing both drivers of the team from competing against each other. The purpose can
be filled through different techniques. It usually involves ordering the less likely to win driver or the slower driver to allow his teammate to overtake him.
The rule of team orders has been used in Formula 1 since the early years of the sport. However, this rule has been cause of many controversies over the years. Several teams have fallen prey to the rifts caused by this rule and drivers have been known to
keep bitter feelings against each other because of the favouritism.
The particular practice became so common and started to make so many controversies that FIA issued a ban on the rule after the 2002 F1 season. However, the ban was only on orders that could be used to manipulate the result of a certain race. The teams still
found a loophole around that as they started giving out discreet orders over the radio instead of direct ones.
There are many rules and regulations for F1 implemented by the FIA. Rules are certainly made for mostly positive outcomes but sometimes have been misused as is the case with team orders. It is quite obvious that the benefit of a whole F1 team is more important
than the advantage of any one driver. When a driver signs a team contract, he is bound by the rules to follow their orders but it should be taken into consideration that all orders should be helping the team; not favouring a particular driver.
F1 is full of such incidents where team orders or more precisely favouritism of a driver have caused controversies. Ferrari, even being the oldest team and having the most extensive F1 history, has been the most involved in these incidents since the start
of the 21st century. One of the most famous incident of this kind happened with Renault F1 and is commonly known as the Crashgate among the media. During the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to crash his car in order to deploy a safety
car which allowed his teammate Fernando Alonso to make an early pit stop and win the race. Piquet was dropped from the team next year and it was then that he confessed about the deliberate crash which earlier had only been a mistake. Renault F1 was suspended
for two years after investigation.
Even though the team orders were banned at that time but if the decision was mutual then the driver should not have complained later on.
While Ferrari has been involved in team order controversies since their time with the historic Michael Schumacher, their most recent incident took place this past season. Felipe Massa’s gearbox was deliberately broken to earn him a five place grid penalty
in order to promote Alonso to a better position on the grid that helped him finish the race in a favourable position.
To many people, the decision seems like logical thinking and a smart strategy but at the same time some think that it was unfair to Massa. As long as Massa agreed, it is justified and the decision seems to be made due the priority given to the team.
In late 2010, the article prohibiting team orders was deleted from the FIA technical regulations and the whole issue remains debatable to date.
Team orders are justified as long as they provide a positive outcome for the whole team rather than blatantly favouring one driver.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect bettor.com’s official editorial policy.
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