Team orders aren't about determining finishing order. They are about preventing team drivers from racing each other and potentially taking each other out or over-driving the equipment. That misconception is due, in large part, to the antics served up by Ferrari during the Schumi-Rubi days. I'm not a huge fan of team orders, I just take a pragmatic view towards them. F1 is all business these days and unless you're the one paying the bills, you shouldn't have a say in how a team runs its strategy so long as it doesn't significantly detract from the integrity of the sport. Therein lies the subjective nature of the whole issue. Yes, it is very correct. Go pull out some back issues of F1 Racing, or any interview with Patrick Head, Ron Dennis or Frank Williams, and get back to me. I agree whole-heartedly about the WDC holding more interest--in the public's eye. Ferrari is the lone exception. But as far as team orders being about individual accomplishments, that's just not the case.
Both. It would have been ridiculous to cause Kimi to have to try a forced pass, and possibly lose both cars. Team orders, IMHO, are getting the bad rap here because a lot of modern fans want to see a free-for-all between drivers. Team managers want to see both their cars and their drivers win. I think that we may be forgetting that in many cases (some way back to the classic origins of the sport) that team orders have produced some of the most exciting and memorable races ever. Grand Prix of Belgium; 1935 - Auto Union and Maserati factory teams stayed home; this was essentially a race between Mercedes-Benz, the Alfa Romeos of Scuderia Ferrari, and various Bugattis. Soon the Mercedes were running 1-2-3, and team orders to slow to a fast cruise and hold position. Troublemaker Luigi ***ioli, determined to catch Caracciola, again and again broke the lap record anyway. He was seen waving his fists at his teammates. He was called into the pits, severely reprimanded, and threw a temper tantrum, told manager Neubauer to go to hell, and abandoned the car. Now only Rudi was in the lead, followed by the two SF Alfas. The third Mercedes, Von Brauchstich, was out for mechanical issues. He was given ***ioli's car, ten laps to go, and immediately began breaking the lap records again in an attempt to catch the Alfas. (***ioli's best was a 101.62mph, but Von Brauchstich now was able to pull out a 102.88 in the same car - and this time under team orders!) Final results were: Caracciola 1st, Von Brauchitsch 2nd (both Mercedes), third, fifth, and sixth were all Bugattis. The fourth place car was an SF Alfa, originally driven by Dreyfus - (who had practically collapsed from exhaustion three laps before the end) and the car was given to the reserve driver Marinoni. Again under team orders - of Scuderia Ferrari.
In the good ole days Fangio, Ascari, etc. used to finish the race in a teammate's car after their own cars broke dwon. Now that's team orders.
As I've said in several previous posts I'm not arguing against team orders, but I can see the unfair side. If team orders had no effect outside the team that would be one thing, but they can and do impact on other teams and that's another issue. Imagine a possible scenario at the last race next season. LH needs to win the race to take Kimi's WDC title away from him but he's lying in second place to his team mate with a few laps to go. To prevent LH from having to try a forced pass and possibly lose both cars, HK runs wide on a corner and LH gets through to win the race and takes Kimi's WDC. Would that be a fair and proper way for the World Drivers' Championship to be decide?
It could happen. guess Kimi needs to have a big enough point lead going into the final race so that it doesn't matter. He puts himself in that position, is he really WDC?
Well, it would not be very popular with the Ferrari fans - for sure. But, I guess you could make the point that given the fact that the WDC points were cumulative for the whole hypothetical season, then if a driver leaves himself in that position that this might well be what he should be expecting. Like my ancient story, back when the driver's ego was secondary - and the team manager ruled for the good of King, Country, and the TEAM...people were not nearly so squeamish on these things. And drivers were apparantly not so squeamish about breaking their team orders, either (when their competitive spirit got in the way). I see this "NO TEAM ORDERS" as being next to impossible to realistically enforce (look at the slick way Ferrari handled the "technicalities" last year in the Brazil pit stop). And I also see it as another attempt to dumb down this sport and make it more politically correct.
It is a impossible rule to enforce I think we all can agree on. But another thought springs to mind is when say driver #2 slows up the pack to allow his team mate #1 to catch up is this right or just team play..
Well, it is considered OK to block in football, but not to grap a guy behind the neck and horse collar him. Blocking has always existed in racing; this is supposed to be taken care of by flagging the offenders if they go too far. "Crashing" somebody out on the track because you are out of the points and he is ahead is obviously going too far...without naming certain individuals, of course.
I think that's the subjective part of the issue, and you'll rarely reach a consensus. What helps, in my opinion, is when Felippe Massa (for example) states at a certain point of the season that he no longer feels he has a chance to take the Driver's Championship so he will support his teammate's effort. Then, at the finale if he's in a situation where letting Kimi past will aid the effort, then people can't complain so loudly. Massa's image goes up a notch for being a good teammate, and the team and Kimi all benefit. When the situation within a team is more toxic, like at McLaren, then any maneuvering will be more negatively received since it will obviously be the forced hand of team management and not the result of teamsmanship between drivers. Really, there isn't much if any difference in means when ultimately the same end is reached. I think the reason I don't mind team orders as much as I should is because of current state of F1 where they have (again, in my opinion) some ticky-tack rules that really don't improve the quality of the show or assist in determining "who's best". Examples like forced use of different tyres, declaring fuel loads. Turn 'em loose and let 'em race.
LOL! Oh how I dream of the days when I can immerse myself again in F1...At least the boy is already showing interest in the cars.
