Do we need Team Orders in F1?

Team orders have been legal since the start of the 2011 season in F1 after being outlawed from 2003 onwards. They can be used by teams to determine where their cars finished if they are running in adjacent positions, but are often mis-used and as you will read, used to alter the race in an unsporting manner.

Malaysia came and went several weeks ago, but Vettel’s decision to overlook the team’s judgement was a strange twist in the debacle that is Team Orders. In the past, Webber has agreed to Team Orders and put Red Bull well and truly before himself. Sebastian claimed not to understand that ‘Multi-21’ meant Webber ahead of Vettel, but in Spa last year he said “Multi-12, please.’ To make sure he wouldn’t be overtaken.

In the past, we’ve had people using them when legal but unfairly, and we’ve had people using them illegally when they were banned. Now, we have a case of people not obeying them. But, when you consider the controversy they have caused in the past, was what Sebastian did so wrong?

Belgium, 1998 (Team orders LEGAL)

Michael Schumacher has crashed out of the race. You’re Damon Hill and haven’t won a race since leaving Williams in 1996. Your team has never won a Grand Prix. Your team mate Ralf Schumacher is much faster than you behind. What do you do? Guilt-trip the team.

“I’m going to put something to you, and you better listen. If we two [Ralf and Damon] race, we could get nothing. If we don’t race each other we’ve got an opportunity to get a first and second. It’s up to Eddie.”

Damon could see the young German homing in on him, so deployed the old all-or-nothing tactic. Of course, they finished like that, 1-2, Jordan’s best ever race result, but the younger Schumacher should have had his first victory three years early.

“Ralf, you cannot overtake Damon. That is a team order.”

I can see the sense here, not wanting to risk all or nothing, but I do think it was a ploy by Damon to ensure victory for himself.

Austria, 2001 (Team orders LEGAL)

The A1 Ring was subject to some horrendous treatment of Ferrari 'Number 2' Rubens Barrichello. He was running second ahead of Michael Schumacher. Then, imagine the horror of hearing Jean Todt in his ear:

"It’s last lap, let Michael pass for the championship, Rubens please. Let Michael pass for the championship."

Rubens surrendered the lead at the latest possible moment

The quarrel I have with this incident in particular is that it was only round 6 of 17, and the team had already decided they favoured Michael. What a shambles. Rubens was understandably disgusted with his team, and after the race walked away from his team principal. The points differential between first and third was six points at the time (When cars up to 6th place only got points) as opposed to a 2-point gap between 2003 and 2009 and the current 7-point gap but Schumacher breezed the championship thereafter. However, this was nothing compared to what would happen in Spielberg in 12 months...

Austria, 2002 (Team orders LEGAL)

Same Sh*t, different day. This time, Barrichello was leading when Ferrari chiefs Brawn and Todt asked him to move aside two laps from the end. Though it may not have changed the championship standings at all (Schumacher and Barrichello finished first and second very comfortably) it was the same issue of it being only 6 races into the season. Rubinho was never given a chance at Ferrari, always completely overlooked by the team in favour of its favourite son, Michael. This manouvre ultimately led to team orders being made illegal in 2003.

Singapore, 2008 (Team orders BANNED)

Yes, yes. I know, you’ve heard this all before. But this is probably the worst use of team orders I’ve come across, even gaining its own ‘gate’ name – Crashgate. Nelsinho Piquet was informed that if he didn’t crash and bring out the Safety Car (thus endangering his life and others) so that Fernando Alonso could win, he would be fired. Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds told him to crash on purpose for his own sake, and the greater good. That’s an ultimatum no one should have to face. Essentially, it’s the same as taking out a huge insurance policy on a shop you own, then getting someone to burn it down and claim the money.

Okay - not the same mis-use as the other examples, but the point stands.

"Yeah, you can totally drift an F1 car, watch..."

 

 This surreal foreign video is actually extremely clear at explaining the whole incident
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwsRlUKvPcY

Australia, 2009 (Team orders BANNED)

‘Liegate’ went largely undetected in the F1 world until the weekend after in Malaysia. Hamilton had been fourth behind the Safety Car, when Jarno Trulli went off track ahead. You’re not allowed to overtake under Safety Car conditions, but Trulli leaving the track made it a legal pass. Hamilton let him back past, and the race finished like that – Jarno 3^rd, Lewis 4^th. But after the race, Hamilton’s race engineer told Stewards that Trulli had passed him unfairly, even though Dave Ryan, Hamilton’s then-Engineer had told him to do so. This isn’t exactly a misuse of team orders in the way that all these other scandals are, but after being told to do it by top team personnel, Lewis was not going to defy them. The débâcle landed both in hot water, Ryan got suspended, and Hamilton got excluded from the race altogether.

Australia, 2010 (Team orders BANNED)

The Australian Grand Prix 2010. After the first race in 'Bore-ain' the race is full of incidents and strategies. Hamilton is catching his team mate Button who is in first place. Andy Latham then harks in his ear:

"Lewis please box this lap for a fresh set of Options."

The stop dropped him 5th, just ahead of Webber and would eventually put him in a position where The Aussie would crash into him, but ensured that his team mate would go unchallenged for the victory. Though the team claimed it was a tactical move, it was almost definitely a plan orchestrated to give new signing Jenson Button a win after a disappointing McLaren debut in Bahrain.

Germany, 2010 (Team orders BANNED)

Probably the worst charade ever performed. It’s Round 11 of the season. You're Felipé Massa. It's exactly a year since your horrific crash in Hungary. Starting third, you get an incredible start and pass both Vettel and Alonso! Surely this pleases Ferrari chiefs. No? Massa's engineer Rob Smedley begrudgingly says half-way through the race:

"Okay, so Fernando. Is faster. Than. You. Confirm you have understood the message..."

Coming out of the Hairpin Massa slows and is overtaken by Alonso.

“Okay mate, just stick with it now. Sorry.”

Trend-setters again... Ferrari got Team Orders UN-banned with this scandal.

Smedley's incredibly close relationship with Massa led him to apologise, and made it clear that this was something he didn't want to have to say. The deliberate tone in his voice made it so obvious, that although Alonso went on to win the race, everyone in the paddock noticed the shoddy acting.

"What I can say? Congratulations to the team."

Was the Brazilian's unhappy reply. Ferrari were fined $100,000 after this incident, and it led to the team order rule being lifted for next season, as it was too difficult to enforce.

Great Britain, 2011 (Team orders LEGAL)

Silverstone, a year later. Your team mate Sebastian is already running away with the title and you are desperate for a win at Silverstone, one of your most successful tracks on the calendar. You are definitely faster in the closing laps, closing in on second-placed Seb. Coming out of Woodcote corner you get a run on him. Overtaking into Copse is possible, go for the pass!

“Maintain the gap, Mark, maintain the gap.”

Number two driver status well and truly confirmed. But at least Mark showed what a team player he is by surrendering his own performance in order to assure the greater good.

Brazil, 2011 (Team orders LEGAL)

Vettel's dominant season saw him win the championship with four rounds to go, in Japan. Having won 11 Grands Prix to his team mate's 0, when leading the Brazilian GP the team manufactured a lie that Vettel had a problem with third and fourth gears and he slowed to let Webber past. Webber got the win he clearly deserved but was not fast enough to achieve without meddling from the team, so morally, it's questionable whether this victory was earned. I can sort of see the logic here but it gives false hope really, to someone who wasn’t going to win. On paper it gives Mark an extra win to his name, but I’m afraid no one will remember that from the 2011 season, they will just remember Vettel absolutely destroying the rest of the field.

And now, Malaysia 2012 (Team orders LEGAL)

As we saw, Vettel was told to stay behind Webber, but overtook him. He was definitely faster, but this scenario has never happened before. The examples above all demonstrate the LEGAL use of Team Orders which are unfair, and the ILLEGAL use of coded messages, which are essentially and pragmatically team orders. But this was a LEGAL team order that was ignored… so what is really the issue? I’m finding it hard to understand my own argument here, but essentially, Vettel who was on faster tyres with better pace overtook Webber.

At a press conference in China, Vettel summed it up:

“Bottom line is, I was racing, I was faster, I overtook him, I won.”

And although I adore Mark Webber and hate the treatment he gets from the Helmut Marko faction of the team, Vettel has a point. He is just so good and on the option tyres his pace would have been about half a second faster per lap anyway. I’m sorry Mark Webber, I feel for you, and I would have loved to see you win, but in the light of all the nuisances Team Orders have caused, I have to let this one go.

Battles in Bahrain

Before writing anything about Bahrain, I must apologise (to anyone who visits regularly enough to notice) that I have not uploaded a race report for China. I was asleep when the GP occurred, and set my DVR recorder to capture it, but it failed to do so, and I couldn't get the facts I needed to write a detailed enough report. The report was called 'No one finer than Fernando in China', in case you've been enjoying my pun titles. Anywho, I digress, we move on to Bahrain.

Friday saw former teammates Massa and Raikkonen top the timing sheets, with the Brazilian on top on P1, and the Iceman leading the way on Friday afternoon. Lewis Hamilton languished in 13th and 10th in the respective sessions. This was after opting to try out the Orange-banded hard tyres to better understand the Mercedes' high degradation rates in a long run. Familiar face Heikki Kovalainen was back in the Caterham garage on Friday; the team which are still developing, felt that their inexperienced driver pairing was not cutting the mustard in developing new parts, giving the popular Finn another taste of racing.

After a brilliant outing in China, Hamilton had a rotten stroke of luck on Saturday. Coming down the back straight, the rear-left  tyre failed, leading to a collapse of the suspension. This damaged the gearbox, and he received a 5-place grid penalty for replacing it before Q1 even started. The Brit was in good company for those with penalites, Esteban Gutierrez incurred a 5-place drop for clattering into the back of Adrian Sutil last weekend, and Webber had a more modest 3-place penalty for (what I thought was a racing incident) tangling with Daniel Ricciardo as well.

Lewis' lightning reactions saved the car from further damage

It was thought the puncture was due to debris

As Q1 got underway the pressure was of course incredible. The usual backmarkers fell out; both Marussia and Caterhams, however, for the first time the season, Bianchi was not the best of the bottom teams, instead Pic took that distinction. Interestingly, both Williams cars set identical times, however since Valtteri Bottas set his time first, Maldonado was left to sulk with the other fall guys.

Cars Eliminated after Q1 (With penalties applied)
17 - Maldonado
18 - Pic
19 - Bianchi
20 - van der Garde
21 - Chilton
22 - Gutierrez

Nothing spectacular happened in Q2, although Button was rather jubilant at getting into Q3 at all' exclaiming to his engineer:
"Yaaaaay! Did what you said Dave"

Cars Eliminated after Q2
11 - Grosjean
12 - Perez
13 - Ricciardo
14 - Hulkenberg
15 - Bottas
16 - Vergne

In Q3 no one could touch Rosberg. The German grabbed his second career pole just over a year after his first in China last year; the first back-to-back Mercedes poles since the 1950s. Felipe Massa was the only top-10 driver to qualify on hard tyres. Due to Webber and Hamilton's penalties, the Force Indias lined up a fantastically, occupying row 3 of the grid.

The final top ten (With penalties applied)
1 - Rosberg
2 - Vettel
3 - Alonso
4 - Massa
5 - di Resta
6 - Sutil
7 - Webber
8 - Raikkonen
9 -Hamilton
10 - Button

The tension mounted as you would expect. Rosberg led the cars round for the formation lap for the second time in his career. Lights out, and the Mercedes maintained the lead, with Vettel waiting in the wings. in the midfield, Massa and Sutil got too close for comfort; Felipe damaging his front wing, and Adrian gaining a puncture. Contact did not restrict itself to the front of the pack either. Starting at the back, Esteban Gutierrez was keen to make up places, but the Mexican's haste was too great, and he damaged his front wing on Geido van der Garde. The Dutchman's plight continued when he T-boned Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso, causing a puncture.

Hard-charging Esteban's inexperience got the better of him

JEV's crippled Toro Rosso

Fernando Alonso was tipped to be strong in Bahrain. After his exceptional win in China, the Spaniard looked racy in the early stages, making a better start than Vettel and taking second place for part of a lap. He made his way past Rosberg and began to chase down Vettel, using DRS on the Mercedes. But then, a problem. The DRS flap folded upwards of the hinge. The flap, which adds 200Kg of downforce to the back of the car was flapping about and it's a wonder how Alonso was able to maintain pace with the back of the car so loose. Clearly this was a safety hazard, so the team brought him in.

The problem first identified

It looked to have gone away; the team coincided the quick fix with his first pit stop, but when using the flap to pass one of the Marussia cars, it reappeared, and he was sent back and told not to use the system. This severely curbed his speed in the race.

Fixed?...

Passing Bianchi has never been so dangerous

No, Domenicali hasn't lost a fiver; they're fixing the rear wing

Pitting on Lap 10 for Vettel gifted Paul di Resta the lead; something that first occurred at this race a year ago. The Scot's reputation preceded him in the past, being introduced as "The guy that used to beat Sebastian Vettel, but here he was in Bahrain, battling his old foe once more. Paul's sniff of a podium faded when he pitted on lap 14, which put Raikkonen at the front, but expect to see the Force India right up there later in the season.

After passing Raikkonen on Lap 15 Vettel sauntered off in to the distance. His stranglehold was so great on this race that the cameras all but forgot the young German for the rest of the race. And thank goodness. What an incredible battle ensued behind the leader. Pirelli's aim of creating confusion and unpredictability truly came to light. I had no idea who would be on the podium until... I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Grosjean and Perez engaged in a fantastic dice for what was at the time 8th place. Both young drivers achieved three podium finishes last year and are arguably very well matched. The Lotus remained ahead for the time being.
Lap 17 saw Vergne retire from his tangle with van der Garde earlier, the bodywork was too damaged. At the same time, another Ferrari-engined car suffered bad luck and it was that of Felipe Massa. Similar to Hamilton on Saturday he suffered a rear right tyre delamination, indicated by the easiness of Grosjean and Perez passing him.

At the beginning of lap 20 Rosberg's downward spiral continued, being relegated to fourth, then fifth, by Button and Grosjean. The McLaren passed him easily at turn 2 following a snap of oversteer, but Romain's pass was far more spectacular, going round the outside of him at turn 4. The young Frenchman was looking rapid indeed. He hassled Jenson until the McLaren pitted on lap 22, emerging just behind his team mate who was still trying to pass Rosberg.

Perez did sink Rosberg later that lap. Mercedes' tyre woes were evident once again, with Nico freefalling through the pack, and Hamilton complaining:

"The rears are going off...balance is really poor"

Nico got back past Sergio on Lap 24, but by the end of the lap, both McLarens had closed onto him. Perez zipped by with aid of DRS, then Button too, although a late move across the track from Perez nearly took them both out.

The tussle comes to a head

Paul di Resta slipped by Grosjean on lap 27 to confirm that the Lotus had no grip left with which to defend; he pitted at the end of the lap.
The two McLarens could not get enough of one another. They were oh-so-close to touching each other in between turns 1 and 2 on lap 30, but Sergio succeeded where he had failed two corners later, sanding off his front wing end-plate on Jenson's rear right tyre.

A little too close to your team mate?

Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh had told Checo to "Get [his] elbows out", but that was a little too feisty. Much like Newton's Third law, the reaction to Perez' move was just as hot-headed from Button, and he shoved the Mexican Protege onto the sandy kerbs two laps later.

Pride was at stake here, and Jenson knew it

Grosjean's fantastic race continued, and he demoted Perez to 7th, while at about the same time, his team mate Raikkonen slipped past di Resta for second.

Felipe Massa suffered ghastly fortune on lap 37 with a second rear right tyre failure. The sidewall quite literally ripped away from the tyre surface and put his race even further down the toilet. The only Silver lining was that it happened right before pit entry, so he didn't have to limp round for a lap in that condition. You got the feeling that at Pirelli, someone's head would roll, even if Massa's tyre couldn't.

In the divorce proceedings, Mr Sidewall and Mrs Surface went their separate ways

The action came off the boil in the latter stages of the race. As the different strategies fell into place, positions shifted, but they were inevitable moves.
By lap 46, Button was looking the worse for wear, and he was ditched by teammates former and current, in the forms of Hamilton and Perez. Alonso had somehow recovered back into the points from his terrible start, and scythed his way past Button to take 8th mere corners later.

Lap 52 saw two of the stars of the race, di Resta and Grosjean dicing for the final podium position, and the Lotus on fresher tyres was clearly in more optimal conditions to snatch it. Perez had been temporarily behind Alonso after the Spaniard got the better of him on lap 56, but now Sergio wanted it back.

Similarly, Hamilton who had been dropped to 6th by Webber, wanted that place back. The duo fought tooth and nail for 5th until the very last lap. Hamilton grabbed 5th, but Webber, who looked a little unsettled was pipped to sixth by Perez in the final sector.

The race concluded with Vettel 9 seconds ahead of Raikkonen, who had a very quiet race. Only one retirement made this a very tidy race, but there must have been about a hundred overtaking manouvres; this was an incredible Grand Prix!

Identical, triple-Renault-powered podium to last year's race.

Driver of the day? Pfft, good luck deciding that, it could be anyone! It's definitely between di Resta, Grosjean and Perez, but other than that, I really can't decide. Next race is Spain, in three weeks.

Lap Leaders
Rosberg 1-3
Vettel 4-10
di Resta 11-14
K Raikkonen 14
S Vettel 15-57

Finishing Positions
1. S Vettel, Red Bull
2. K Raikkonen, Lotus
3. R Grosjean, Lotus
4. P di Resta, Force India
5. L Hamilton, Mercedes
6. S Perez, McLaren
7. M Webber, Red Bull
8. F Alonso, Ferrari
9. N Rosberg, Mercedes
10. J Button, McLaren
11. P Maldonado, Williams
12. N Hulkenberg, Sauber
13. A Sutil, Force India
14. V Bottas, Williams
15. F Massa, Ferrari
16. D Ricciardo, Toro Rosso
17. C Pic, Caterham
18. E Gutierrez, Sauber
19. J Bianchi, Marussia
20. M Chilton, Marussia
21. G van der Garde

Out/Unclassified
JE Vergne, Toro Rosso (Collision Damage)

The Predictors: 2013 Bahrain GP

Last week I introduced a new segment called 'Cor With The Score' to accommodate my friend Cory Wood, who is an avid F1 fan and is looking for bragging rights as the person that 'told-you-so' with the weekend's results. However, two more chums of mine have similar goals, and so the three, and myself will be giving a little prediction of the top ten, and occasionally chipping in with some words about the week previous or upcoming. The predictions will be in a small table so you can compare the differences

'COR WITH THE SCORE' By Cory Wood

Admittedly, Shanghai fell short of my expectations. With the whole tyre situation and teams not going into qualifying looking for grid position but looking at tyre wear for the race, it wasn't the entertainment iIpersonally like to see from the F1 roadshow, hopefully Pirelli have picked a better combination of tyres for Bahrain. Ahh yes - Bahrain. I can't really see much changing with only 7 days between races. Mercedes are looking strong with some good early season pace as are the Red Bulls, but again, I see this race being down to Raikkonen and Alonso. Both are race winners this year; Alonso is the king of self-preservation and Raikkonen? Well he 'knows what he's doing'. Being a very stop start track with 4 long straights and not much in the way of high-speed cornering, Mclaren may surprise some people and Jenson Button seems to be getting 110% out of the car like Alonso did last year.
My prediction is quite similar to the actual positions in China.
Look out for:  Jenson Button


'OVERJAKING MANOUVRES' By Jake Bayes

 
Looking at previous form you could fancy any of Alonso, Massa, Vettel or Raikkonen to perform this weekend. Both Ferrari drivers are repeat winners here and Vettel won in 2012. The red bull car may be better suited to some of the slower speed corners, allowing Vettel to show a repeat of his strong history here (unfortunately). Button also has a win here from Brawn GP's wonder year of 2009, and there's Mercedes new pace to look out for too.




'PARKIN'S POINTS' By Kyran Parkin

Alright, so the Pirelli tyres are going to be a major factor across this weekend. Bahrain will give us higher temperatures than we've seen so far this season, add in the combination of the Hard and Medium compounds, and we should get some great racing. Based upon what we've seen so far, the Lotuses seem to have the edge with tyre conservation. Kimi has already notched
up a win and is on a staggering 33 race finishing streak and a 21 consecutive points finishing streak... so I tip him for the podium, but I will go ahead and call him for the win. (He knows what he's doing.) Second place will go to our good friend at Ferrari, Mr Fernando Alonso. He's on a high after winning at China less than a week ago and the Ferrari is showing it's speed and consistency. Plus we know how good Fernando is with a bad car. This year's car is incredible
in comparison. Third place is a tough one to call. We have potentially six drivers all capable of snatching that final podium  place. Based solely on what I've already seen, much to my disgust and loathing, 'Finger Boy' aka 'The Spoilt Brat'  will take it. (-.-) I would love for Lewis to get three podiums in a row, unfortunately I feel, as usually is the case, the tyres just won't hold up on the Mercedes.


Many thanks to my three informed peers. And now, their predictions.

Cor' with the Score - 2013 Chinese GP Predictions

My old mate Cory Wood knows a thing or two about Formula One, and in a new section to my blog, he's going to be having a poke at the race results this weekend. Now, obviously, you have a better chance of being hit by Jupiter than you do predicting every driver position for all three Practice sessions, Qualifying and the Race. Ludicrous indeed. So, for sanity's sake he will be predicting the top 10 on Sunday. Take it away Cory:


"The 2013 Chinese Grand Prix is going to be a hard one to predict. Last year it was won by Nico Rosberg for Mercedes but in very cold conditions. Looking at the weather report it seems that we are in for a race with much warmer conditions therefore I can see the Lotus being very strong here. It is very easy on its tyres in warm conditions (like Australia) and with Kimi Raikkonen at the wheel anything is possible. The Red Bull pairing of Vettel and Webber will be strong as always and i can see the Mercs keeping pace early in each stint but dropping back towards the end with higher tyre degradation than that of the Red Bull or Lotus. Ferrari are also looking to bounce back after Alonso's disappointment in Malaysia so I expect him to be there abouts when it comes to handing out the trophies."


Race Prediction
1st - K.Raikkonen
2nd - S.Vettel
3rd - F.Alonso
4th - N.Rosberg
5th - L.Hamilton 
6th - F.Massa
7th - M.Webber
8th - R.Grosjean
9th - J.Button
10th - A.Sutil

I can't really disagree with Cory here, The Lotus proved itself as a warm-weather-wonder and with a sunny Shanghai on the way it could be the Iceman unmelted at the front once more. I think Hamilton could edge his way towards the podium here, China is a track he's been incredibly successful at in the past. Three weeks since the controversial Malaysian GP has been an agonising wait for me, I'm hoping China doesn't disappoint.