Formula One: Should Team Orders be Allowed?
Perspectives on the existence of the team orders rule, are divided in Formula One. Some believe that team orders should be allowed as they will make the championship more interesting while other think that in order to affect the result of a championship, the race results are sacrificed and fans are deprived of fighting finales. Bettor.com assesses the pros and cons of having or banning team orders.
The history of Formula One is littered with team orders and there have been many clear cases of not only teams passing the orders but drivers’ own decisions to let their teammates pass them. This was done as frequently before the 'official ban' on team orders in 2002, as it was after. The fact of the matter is that, at some point in a championship, teams have to put their weight behind one of its two drivers.
The teams do not have to sit out the majority of the season to decide their preferences. A majority of engineers and team principals have been in the sport for way too long to fail at assessing their drivers. For example both Red Bull drivers are locked in at third position, with 136 points each, both drivers are equally competitive and skilled. The team thus cannot prefer one over the other just yet. But Christian Horner will have to make that decision by the end of the season when one of the two drivers will have to be selected as the one with a better chance of securing the championship. Be it the last race or the last lap, team orders will have to come into play eventually.
On the other hand choosing between Massa and Alonso this season is no brainer. Mathematically Massa is still a possibility for the title, but the fact that he has ruined a few races will need to be taken into account. The fact that he is not as good as Alonso in qualifying, he is 72 points behind the leader with more than half the season already over and he has not scored any points in three consecutive races before Germany become reasons for Ferrari to favour Alonso. After all, when Massa was a championship contender two years ago, Raikkonen was made to sacrifice for him.
One argument in favour of team orders is that they make the championship interesting. If Raikkonen had not let Massa pass in China, we wouldn’t have seen the classic season finale in 2008. Similarly if Kovalainen had defended his position against Hamilton in Germany in 2008, McLaren could’ve missed out on another championship by a small margin. Team orders prevent fans from enjoying a single overtaking move and giving them a thrilling championship instead.
Secondly, Article 39.1 that bans team orders, states that team orders that interfere with the results of the game are prohibited. Article 151 (c) is about the interest of motor sport or any competition therein. Now if team orders make the championship interesting they cannot be against the interest of the competition and thus they do not interfere with the result. So in the long run, team orders are doing the sport a world of good.
Thirdly, imposing the ban simply meant that teams have had to introduce coded language. According to Schumacher and Coulthard, all teams exercise team orders and those that say they don’t, are lying. Now after Germany’s controversial race, any team intending to issue team orders will simply use coded words to pass on instructions and, without anyone knowing, team orders will come into play. So currently, this is not a ban on team orders, but a ban on instructions that clearly seem to be team orders.
Alonso’s victory in Germany and the additional 7 points he gained by becoming the winner has kept 5 drivers in a very realistic championship hunt with more than half the season over. How often do we witness that in Formula One?
Those who simply cannot stand the idea of team orders, justify their views. They say that when teams pass instructions to a driver to give up his position, it affects the competitiveness of that driver and is unfair to him and the hard work he put in. He may have vowed to himself to win the championship from an unlikely position but the team just ruins it for him in favour of the driver with more points. If it were Massa’s decision to give Alonso the victory, it would mean that Massa himself believes that he is not good enough to win the title. But since Massa had to comply to the team’s instructions it just makes him feel that the team is not behind him even though he still has the chance. They believe that the sport is all about racing and it hurts their feelings when drivers give up racing and go into compliance mode instead. They believe that such incidents bring Formula One disrepute.
These arguments are too strong for the FIA to make a change in their ruling. The best solution here though, could be to modify the rules ever so slightly. Drivers on the same team should be allowed to swap places on the track if it is evident that the result has directly affected one drivers’ championship without harming the others.
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