Team Orders in F1 - Good, Bad or Just Plain Ugly?

Paul Jeffrey · Sep 30, 2018

Team orders reared their head once again at the Russian Grand Prix to leave a bad taste in the mouths of Grand Prix fans - do you think they have a place in Grand Prix racing?

With the title fight heating up heading into the final stages of the 2018 Formula One season, AMG Mercedes took the controversial decision to order Valtteri Bottas to give way to Lewis Hamilton this weekend, gifting Hamilton an uneasy victory and robbing the fans of a potentially much more entertaining Grand Prix.

Keeping Hamilton well ahead of Ferrari, the British driver is now 50 points clear with just 125 points left on offer, a win today in Sochi has been described as Hamilton's "least proud" race victory in his 11 year Formula One career.

With Mercedes now holding a commanding performance advantage over their Ferrari rivals, was the move to demote Bottas really necessary, and should it be allowed to happen in Formula One?

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What do you think of the team order decision? Does a move like this have a place in F1? Let us know in the comments section below!

ears · Sep 30, 2018

For as long as there are teams, there will be team orders.

NtsParadize · Sep 30, 2018

That was really bad. Worst race of the season, worse than Monaco

Gasper Zupan · Sep 30, 2018

I'm a Hamilton fan, but I think they went way too far with this one. They made everyone look silly.

DJankovic92 · Sep 30, 2018

Gualda · Sep 30, 2018

I don´t like them but, F1 is a team based sport, it´s not an individualistic sport, teams has 2 cars for making more points, not for having 2 main drivers.

ears · Sep 30, 2018

It's a competitive season. When you know how ruthless your main competitor is prepared to be, you have to be prepared to match them.

Jolero02 · Sep 30, 2018

I mean I’m conflicted.
Team orders aren’t necessary a bad thing( look at force India in the race, that shows how they should be executed) but for that execution to be a thing team orders have to be fully legal really, and when they are people are ALWAYS going to exploit that.
It also must be noted that the current dirty air situation when cars are following and the stupid tyres that Pirelli bring( under FIAs guidance I must add) don’t allow racing. This means that even if Driver A ( seemingly Hamilton today) is faster, they simply can’t get past and the team has to introduce team orders. However, we will never know who was the faster car after all as Bottas was able to stick to Hamilton after the race.
Credit to Hamilton for his response, he seems genuinely upset at the whole ordeal while remaining human in the way he understands why the team did it for his champinship ( 2 race DNF buffer) as well as Bottas- this one is on Mercedes and the sport as a whole

Antony Snook · Sep 30, 2018

Any sport is made of rules to be made or broken. That is the same for teams, they have policies enforced by rules.
Even on the street you cant go shoot someone and expect not to get caught by the police and probably go to jail. Its the consequence of your action.
So rules are part of society and the world we live in and sports like F1 are part of it.

I think some of the modern rules are stupid but i did not make them. In some ways they kill the sport. And in others they make it more civilized. Its all down to are you being penalized or is someone penalizing you. So it depends if the rule helps you or hurts you.

effjottess · Sep 30, 2018

Why not?
Ferrari did pactice the team order all over the years and so distorted the Championship for that time.
But to race fair to see who will be the best, team order and specially team radio should be forbidden!

Koen Verlinde · Sep 30, 2018

Mercedes has learned nothing from Ferrari in Austria 2002. While at that time they were full of criticism towards Ferrari as an engine manufacturer for having played teamorders so badly, they did the exact same fallacy today as a team.

No way Toto is going to leave sleep over it, but Bottas might reconsider his future.

keto95 · Sep 30, 2018

Teamorders should be forbidden, it kills the sport.

Chris · Sep 30, 2018

I didn't like it, but there's no denying it was objectively the correct thing for Mercedes to do in order to maximize their chances in both Championships.

Seems clear Lewis didn't want to win like that, but going into Suzuka with a 50pt lead is pretty handy.

Chris · Sep 30, 2018

keto95 said:
Teamorders should be forbidden, it kills the sport.

Unfortunately there's no way of regulating it. They have been banned in the past and the teams still got away with using them

RobertGracie · Sep 30, 2018

Mercedes have crossed the line this time around and I have no sympathy for them AT ALL, they deserve to be penalized for it, I dont care if they were racing for position they could have thrown that race away and still win the championship they deserve to face a grid penalty for the next race, sorry but I just had to state my mind!

keto95 · Sep 30, 2018

Chris said:
Unfortunately there's no way of regulating it. They have been banned in the past and the teams still got away with using them

They could be penalized by taken all their points away they scored that particular race PLUS a huge fine. It means in the Sochi race that Mercedes is missing out on 43 points; I'm sure they'll be more careful next time.

LeSunTzu · Sep 30, 2018

Look at the faces in the Mercedes team after the 1-2 win and you have the answer the OP question.

Hear the Russian crowd at the end of the race and you have the same answer.

Will Mazeo · Sep 30, 2018

keto95 said:
They could be penalized by taken all their points away they scored that particular race PLUS a huge fine. It means in the Sochi race that Mercedes is missing out on 43 points; I'm sure they'll be more careful next time.

You then want rules to be changed on the fly? Unlikely.
If they explicity forbid team orders teams will just find another way to do it, they already talk in codes for many things, you cant just forbid it.

That said the orders are just done in the most ridiculous way they can find lol you can see team orders done in other series without people even noticing.

MikieC · Sep 30, 2018

ears said:
For as long as there are teams, there will be team orders.

Exactly! Get rid of the teams, this will never happen. But of course at the end of the day, its a bout money. If we have the choice, to make some people alittle happier, or make millions?...... well, someone might make the noble choice, but....

keto95 · Sep 30, 2018

Will Mazeo said:
You then want rules to be changed on the fly? Unlikely.

No, not on the fly, but as a standard rule.

Will Mazeo said:
If they explicity forbid team orders teams will just find another way to do it, they already talk in codes for many things, you cant just forbid it.

Yes, they can. They have onboard camera and telemetry afterwards to control things. It certainly is possible, but it takes way more effort for the stewards.