After having some time to dwell on the thrilling drama that was the Malaysian Grand Prix, it got me into thinking about "Team Orders". Is it right? Should F1, or any other formula allow Team Orders? What exactly are Team Orders and why should drivers obey them?
-Team Orders is a term for the practice of teams issuing instructions to drivers to deviate from the normal practice of racing against each other as they would against other teams' drivers. This can be accomplished either in advance, simply by establishing a pecking order between the two drivers within the team, or instructing a driver to let his teammate overtake or to hold position without the risk of collision.
-Drivers are employees like everyone else in a Team, therefore, they should be following the instructions of their superiors.
-F1, and any other racing formula that includes teams, should allow team orders as it may aid the team to win the Drivers and/or Constructors Championships.
-Team Orders has been an integral part of racing since the beginning, and has only come under scrutiny in the last twenty years, as F1 became more popular and the media began to pay more attention to it.
To fully understand Team Orders, we need to look at incidents throughout the years. Some of the team orders were perfectly just, they had merit to them, and they helped a team to achieve their goals. Others incidents made little sense and created controversy, they were blown up by the media and the fans for artificially creating a winner to a race, instead of allowing the race to end naturally with the quickest driver. Other times, the team orders were orchestrated by the team mates, allowing one another through as late as the distance between the last corner and the finish line.
Back in 1955, when most of us were either very young, or a twinkle in the old man's eye, Juan Manuel Fangio was obeying Team Orders. He was asked by the Mercedes team to let his British teammate Stirling Moss, win the British Grand Prix. Fangio obliged, and finished in second, less then a second behind Stirling Moss.
In a much more dramatic fashion, at the 1964 Mexican Grand Prix, the F1 World Championship was hanging in the balance, and it could be won by either Graham Hill, John Surtees or Jim Clark. Clark was in a position to win, but his engine blew out, leaving Surtees in third while Hill was out of the points. Surtees' teammate, Bandini, was in second place, and was asked by his team on the last lap to slow down and let Surtees through. John Surtees soon caught up and picked up the much needed points, to win the Championship by one point over Hill.
From 1979-1981, Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann were teammates at Williams, and Alan Jones was regarded as their #1. In 1979 Reutemann was told not to attack Jones at the German Grand Prix, despite him leading the Championship. In 1981, Reutemann deliberately disobeyed team orders to let Jones through in the Brazillian Grand Prix, which lead to a feud between the two all season. Reutemann would miss out on the Championship by one point to Jones.
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The most successful drivers have obeyed team orders in the past. In the above video, you can see Senna letting his teammate Berger through. Senna was already the World Champion, and let Berger win because "he had been very helpful".
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In the above video, at 3:56, you can see Patrese waving his teammate Nigel Mansell through in the 1992 French Grand Prix.
As F1 headed towards the back end of the 90s, the media and fans began to criticize team orders a lot more, especially blatant examples of it. In the 1997 European Grand Prix, Jacques Villeneuve, already with the title in the bag, was asked by his engineer via radio to let the McLaren cars pass as "They've been very helpful".
At the Japanese Grand Prix of the same year, Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine began the race light on fuel, allowing him to get ahead of the superior Williams-Renault cars and hold them up, to the benefit of teammate Michael Schumacher
At the 1998 Australian Grand Prix, the McLaren drivers David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen caused a stir by switching position at the end of the race in order to respect a previous agreement.
At the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, the Jordan team was staring at a possible 1-2 Finish after Coulthard and Schumacher had collided in a brutal crash. Damon Hill said the following over the radio to his team. "I'm going to put something to you here, and I think you'd better listen to this. If we race, if we two race, we could end up with nothing, so it's up to Eddie (Jordan). If we don't race each other, we've got an opportunity to get a first and second, it's your choice." Ralf Schumacher was subsequently ordered not to overtake Hill, to assure Jordan of a 1-2 finish.
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At the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, Rubens Barrichello was ordered to allow Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher to pass to obtain the win. This received huge amounts of negative attention from the media, as the order was issued shortly before both drivers crossed the finish line. Both drivers were unhappy about the situation. Schumacher refused to take the top step of the podium and the center seat, normally reserved to the winner, during the post-race press conference, and the team was punished for breach of podium procedure. At the United States Grand Prix the very same year, Schumacher returned the favour by giving Barrichello the win by the record smallest margin of 0.011 seconds on the finishing line.
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After 2002, Team Orders were banned from F1, but they continued to be used discreetly. This happened between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in the Turkish Grand Prix, where Mark was asked to slow down to let Vettel past but refused, and we all know how that ended. In the same year, the famous line of "Fernando is faster than you" was uttered over team radio to Felipe Massa, despite Massa achieving the lead, and the Championship still being in its early stages. Ferrari have sacrificed Massa's position a number of times in an attempt to gain Alonso a World Championship, but he has fell short of the goal.
The banning of team orders were abolished in 2011, mostly due to the fact that team orders were always going to exist, and F1 would rather let the fans know what is happening, instead of being deceived of what they believe is a true result.
Another great example of Ferrari team orders, was during the 2012 US Grand Prix, where they purposely damaged Massa's car in order to get him a five place grid penalty, which would leave Alonso on the clean side of the grid. This worked amazingly in Alonso's favour,, and Ferrari owed Massa once again for his loyalty to the team.
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And as we all know, team orders yet again caused controversy when a driver disobeyed team orders for his own personal gains. It can be argued all day long about who was in the right and wrong in this situation, but at the end of the day, F1 is always going to have this happen so long as teams exist. Mercedes did the same thing in the same race, however both of their drivers listened, and they felt bad about it afterwards, but were able to move on without animosity. Hamilton will likely return the favour to his friend down the line, and that is how true teammates should work together.
Every driver wants to win races, while teams want to pick up Championships. Vettel knew for a fact that Webber had a lower engine mapping on, as he had been told to by the team, therefore this fight was unfair. Also Webber had just come out of the pits, so his tires would have been cold, but he was still able to hold him off. In the end, Mark conceded the position to avoid a collision, and his thoughts about the incident is well known.
Playing team orders at this stage, especially on someone like Vettel, is a very risky one, as he is looking to defend his World Championship and be the youngest driver to win four World titles in a row. His hunger for success is honorable, while at the same time, the way he goes about it, at the expense of his teammate, can be compared to the likes of Schumacher. However, could you ever imagine Vettel handing over a race win to Webber like Schumacher did to Barrichello? This remains to be seen.
When a team cannot clearly define a #1 and #2 driver in their team, these incidents are bound to occur, so the team itself is to blame as well. That is racing, and expect this kind of drama to continue in the world of F1. It is a jungle out there, one where the predators fight over the big, chunky points, while the king of the jungle will do absolutely anything, and everything, to keep their crown.
And that is all from me. I shall leave you with a famous quote, made by a legendary commentator.
"Anything happens in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does."
Historical moments were nice to know. 
