In Formula One™, every driver is working to get the best result for their own championship chances. Every team wants to see their driver win the World Drivers’ Championship, but sometimes the battles are too tough and the risk of both of the drivers taking each other out of the race. It is in these situations that we see team orders given to a specific driver and most drivers feel obligated to follow them and few challenge the team’s judgement. It is like that old saying: “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”. However, when there are drivers that are brave enough to stand up to the team and disobey orders, it can quickly turn into a hot topic in the media.
We recently saw one of these occurrences at the Hungarian Grand Prix this year when Lewis Hamilton ignored the orders to allow Nico Rosberg to overtake. It happened on the forty-seventh lap of the race. Hamilton was approximately two seconds ahead of Rosberg, who still needed to make one final pit stop before the end of the race. According to the team, Rosberg was the fastest of the pair and since Hamilton was good for tyres, the risk of slowing Rosberg and causing him to potentially lose positions would be minimized if Hamilton got out of the way. They arranged for Hamilton to allow Rosberg pass on the main straight, however Hamilton denied and didn’t slow.
This hasn’t been the first time that we have saw a driver disobey team orders and will most certainly not be the last time. We saw this earlier in the season at Malaysia when Felipe Massa ignored orders from Williams to allow Valtteri Bottas to pass. Last season in Malaysia we saw Sebastian Vettel do the opposite of what the team said and overtake Mark Webber for the win. Way back in the 1956 Italian Grand Prix, Luigi Musso was ordered to give his car to Juan Manuel Fangio, but refused.
So should Hamilton have obeyed the team’s orders? Although the answer to whether you should follow team orders varies based upon the specific circumstances of the case. In this particular case, I would have to say that Hamilton made the correct decision to not obey. First of all, with the duo locked in such a tight championship battle, Hamilton can not afford to give up points and lose the chance to gain more. Finally, Rosberg was a whole two seconds behind Hamilton. This may not sound like a big gap to people who are new to Formula One™, but in a sport that can be won by hundredths of a second, that is a massive gap. Slowing to allow Rosberg by would have ruined his chance to pass Fernando Alonso. In my opinion, a two second gap is far too large of a gap to request for a driver to move over for a teammate.
If I was a Formula One™ driver, I would rarely obey team orders. When you are racing, you are racing for yourself and aren’t necessarily thinking about what will be best for the team. If I’m chasing down another driver, I want to catch him for the pass, not open up a two second gap of my teammate that will just be pitting again. I think that the FIA had it right in 2002 when they banned team orders.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in any analysis contained within this article are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
