Formula 1 will be a “team sport” once again – Stefano Domenicali
Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali was one of the few people to praise the FIA for lifting the ban on team orders for 2011. Many critics and professionals believe that making team orders legal so openly might result in some biasness within some teams as
some of the teams might choose their best driver according to the statistics and help him more than the other driver throughout the year.
That is not what Formula 1 is about and yes, it is a team sport, therefore a team works for both of its drivers and enables both of them to score maximum possible points rather than help just 1 driver to score maximum points and in the end, secure the drivers’
title undeservingly.
Formula 1 is a challenging sport and if both teammates are competing for the title, it is better to let them race rather than ask one of them to back off and let the better driver win. In fact, since Formula 1 is one of the most unpredictable sports in the
world, one can expect anything from any driver and taking a win or even a single point away from a driver’s career is unjust.
Ferrari has been known for using team orders negatively as they enabled Michael Schumacher to win the drivers’ title 5 times consecutively with Rubens Barrichello as his “wing man”. Quite unsurprisingly, Ferrari’s team boss believes that Formula 1 will once
again be a “team sport” after the FIA announced its decision recently regarding team orders for next season.
He believes that putting a ban on team orders was “pointless hypocrisy” and it disabled a team to play with their drivers tactics fully. Even though team orders were banned in 2010, Ferrari asked Felipe Massa to move aside at the German Grand Prix this season
in order to let Fernando Alonso take the lead and secure maximum points. So making team orders legal won’t make a difference for Ferrari.
However, they would now openly use team orders and that would save the energy that they wasted to hide their tactics from the rest of the world. But one has to admit, Ferrari did the right thing this year since Felipe clearly did not have a chance to fight
against the top contenders and he was more than 50 points behind the top 5.
The team was fined after a lot of investigation by the stewards but according to Stefano, Formula 1 is a team sport. The way Ferrari uses team orders is not how a team works Stefano! In fact, that makes Formula 1 more biased and disables all new coming drivers
from showcasing their talent.
During Michael’s reign, it was completely pointless as Rubens was the only one on the grid challenging Michael Schumacher for the title actively and disabling him from scoring maximum points and not racing against the 7 time world champion actively was simply
unjust.
“Finally, we have said goodbye to this pointless hypocrisy. For us, Formula 1 is a team sport and we have always maintained that viewpoint and it should be treated as such,” he told the Media.
Formula 1 fans hope that teams are just with both their drivers and let them race and fight for every single point. If a driver wants to win a title and become the best driver in the sport, he should earn it himself and prove himself instead of asking his
team to help him in order to impose that he is the best driver out there.
“The regulations already include points that prevent certain situations being managed in an extreme manner. The decision taken [Friday] is very important,” he said.
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