Mark Webber undeterred by the return of ‘team orders’
Despite blaming his team, Red Bull, all through the season for being biased to him, Mark Webber is least worried for ‘team orders’ being allowed by FIA for the next season. He has played down any disastrous impacts of this on the sport, assuring the race fans that any manipulation with the race results will only be seen once in a while and not at every race.
Among many other changes that FIA has come up with for the 2011 Formula One season, lifting the ban from ‘team orders’ is a very crucial one. The rule made its way in the books of FIA regulations in 2002 owing to the race strategy of Ferrari, as they kept asking Rubens Barrichello to assist his teammate and the iconic racer, Michael Schumacher. Although none of the teams have breached the rule very evidently over the years, once again it was Ferrari that influenced the race result very openly, this year. At the German Grand Prix as the team drivers, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were heading for a 1-2 finish for the team, while Massa in the front, the team’s race strategy revealed. The Brazilian driver received a coded message on his car’s radio telling him that his teammate was faster than him. Following the message, Massa slowed down while the 2- time world champion, Alonso overtook him to embrace the second victory of the season. Soon after the race, the team was given a penalty of U.S. $ 100,000 while the case was further sent to World Motor Sport Council, (WMSC) for further investigation. However, the team came out unharmed, neither any of their points were plucked off nor their positions were altered. Now, finally as the season came to an end, the ban has also been lifted, allowing using team orders if it serves in the best interest of the team.
While talking about this change Webber declared, "People shouldn't get too nervous about it. They're not going to see it every weekend.”
The Australian furthermore explained, "I think the Ferrari one was pretty brutal and that's as bad as it gets… When you've got two drivers driving for a team and you can swing the results around every now and again to help the team achieve a better result ... it has been done in the past, it's been done up and down the field.”
All through the 2010 season the Red Bull Racing kept insisting that they do not want to follow any sort of team orders and has further rejected to do so in the next season also.
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