Team orders in Formula One have been controversial over the years and ironically it was Ferrari’s repeated use of this tactic which brought the issue to the fore in the early noughties. Michael Schumacher was the Scuderia’s golden boy and following years of the Italian squad failing to win championships, they settled on a tactic of ensuring Schumacher would always finish ahead of his Ferrari team mate by instructing them to let him by during the races.

Such was the public backlash at the 2002 Austrian GP, following Ferrari ordering Rubens Barichello to move aside for Schumacher on the last lap of the race, the FIA introduced an ban on team orders. Yet this simply moved the instructions to drivers under the radar.

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FIA ban F1 team orders

Even when this ban proved unworkable and had been revoked, the coded messages to drivers to allow their team mates through continued. Most famously at the at 2010 German Grand Prix in Hockenheim, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa received the following message over team radio from his race engineer Rob Smedley. 

“Fernando [Alonso] is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?” Came the ominous call after the Brazilian had led 43 laps of the race. Team orders were famously used by Mercedes to control the on track fights between their drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, when the drivers following the final round of pit stops were instructed to hold station and no longer race each other.

McLaren too in recent years used team orders to ensure their drivers did not fight unnecessarily on track, although the team claimed their drivers were free to race – just not touch each other whilst doing so. This tactic often defends the drivers from potential attack from others to secure the best result for the team.

 

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Ferrari criticised for failing to use team orders

At this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, the fast starting Ferrari cars got the jump on the Mercedes pair ahead. Yet the pair squabbled for the lead over the opening laps, allowing Kimi Antonelli to use his energy deployment more efficiently and take the lead from the pair of them.

George Russell joined the fray and the battle became a three way fight. Again the Ferrari’s were to come off the worse as Russell made his way through and set off in pursuit of his team mate who was now 7 seconds down the road.

Even then, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc continued to battle each other, losing around a second a lap to the Mercedes who were disappearing over the horizon. Sky TV commentator, David Croft, criticised Ferrari’s pit wall for failing to intervene and use team orders to prevent the Mercedes duo dominating the race.

It was though refreshing to hear neither Ferrari driver whinging about the other’s on track battling tactics, and Charles Leclerc once bested by Hamilton revealed over team radio he’d “quite enjoyed that battle.” Post the chequered flag, Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur hailed the close-quarters fighting between his drivers as “good for F1.”

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Scuderia boss Vasseur “checked on my whoop”

When asked by Sky Sport’s presenter Simon Lazenby about how he felt while his drivers were duking it out, Vasseur joked: “I checked on my Whoop, and it was ok.” In terms of the potential for using team orders Vasseur was dismissive.

“I trust them, and for sure, it is always tricky because it is difficult to stop them, and I don’t want to ask them to freeze the positions, and I think it would be unfair. They are professional, and it is good for the team, it is good for F1, and I would prefer it stays like this,” stated the Ferrari boss.

The reality of the situation was that Mercedes were just too quick for the Scuderia and with both McLaren drivers failing to make the start, Ferrari were never in danger of losing the third place podium and a haul of 27 points.

In fact it was Lewis Hamilton who in his 24th race for Ferrari who claimed the final podium spot, whilst Charles Leclerc in fourth was a massive 30 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Oliver Bearman of Haas.

 

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Seven drivers fail to finish in Chinese GP

Seven drivers failed to finish start/finish the race up from five in Melbourne. Further, eight drivers finished on the lead lap which also was an improvement from the six who managed this feat in Australia.

There were seven different F1 constructors who finished inside the points, with Williams taking a miraculous tenth place with Carlos Sainz. Liam Lawson’s P7 ensured the Red Bull junior team outscored Red Bull Racing as Max Verstappen was withdrawn due to concerns over an imminent mechanical failure. 

Much has been written and broadcast about urgent changes required to the current set of F1 regulations. After the chaos at the season opener in Melbourne, China had been pencilled in for a decision to be made on this matter. The problem in Australia was the image of energy starved cars travelling slowly, whilst others using electrical energy deployment flew past them in a blur.

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Urgent F1 rules changes considered after Melbourne

Further, as Lando Norris had observed there was a significant safety risk of two cars travelling at vastly different speeds colliding, potentially sending one over the safety fences and into the crow. Yet the Chinese Grand Prix weekend has offered some kind of reassurance, that the scenes in Melbourne may well be an outlier.

Circuits with similar characteristics to Australia’s Albert park may come in for ‘special consideration’ by the FIA, these include the Red Bull Ring in Austria, the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal and theme of the Italian Grand Prix in the royal Monza park.

Prior to the weekend of the Chinese Grand Prix, senior paddock individuals were highly concerned the new regulations would continue to be heavily criticised by both drivers and fans. However, the paddock consensus appears to have shifted, and the spectacle during the Sprint and the Grand Prix was not as feared.

Whilst the “go slow, to go faster” in qualifying remains a problem, the issues which do remain do not require a knee jerk reaction and will be addressed between now and the Miami Grand Prix in early May.

 

 

 

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