Team Orders at Ferrari?

Paul Jeffrey · Mar 17, 2019

Charles Leclerc put up a late race challenge against his team mate, but suddenly dropped back - are team orders at play already?

Ferrari made no bones about the fact that they believe Vettel offers the best chance of a championship this season for the Scuderia, but is it wise, or even fair, to put all their eggs in one basket so early in the season?

Ok, Leclerc is a young newcomer and Vettel a 4-time World Champion, but surely it would be best to give both drivers an equal shot at taking the points and victories, for both the team and the sport itself.

What do you think about the use of team orders in F1? Do you even believe Ferrari deployed instructions to their drivers today, or did Leclerc just run out of pace at the end of the Grand Prix?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

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filipos6 · Mar 17, 2019

One thing I don't get is why Ferrari didn't pit Charles for a fastest lap in the end?

hablom1977 · Mar 17, 2019

It sucks, if you are a fan of the number two driver.

BrainsBush · Mar 17, 2019

Boardradio LeClerc :

https://twitter.com/i/status/1107178454175436800

CreamyCornCob · Mar 17, 2019

All I know is Scuderia is in a hole, yeah its the first go, but as practice shows, it means nothing.
Their pace is gonna have them going straight to immediate discussions and changes before Bahrain.

Team orders or not, the bigger question is pace.

Stan Marlow · Mar 17, 2019

One thing is catching up, another is overtaking. Example - Verstapen/Hamilton, Gasly/Kvyat/Stroll.
Why is it assumed?

CreamyCornCob · Mar 17, 2019

Well that example.. not really. Max was 1.1 behind Lewis after closing in and being able to use DRS at 1.0. But Max by himself, went off and wide, then was 3.5 back, then clawed back to 1.4 behind Lewis towards the end.

So the chance to overtake was never there in the end.

NL-Jos · Mar 17, 2019

filipos6 said:
One thing I don't get is why Ferrari didn't pit Charles for a fastest lap in the end?

Even Vettel to

CreamyCornCob · Mar 17, 2019

Imagine todays rules etc, power, DRS etc at Monza. OH what a joy that would be. The ultimate drag race with 3 possible DRS zones. That would be beautiful.

apex11 · Mar 17, 2019

Well you could submit an argument that Vettel lost the WDC last year due to Ferrari's failures at team orders, unlike Merc who used them a lot.
So i can understand why they have done it, LeClerc is young and in a great car / team, he'll not lose too much sleep over it i doubt.

It does show that when Bottas has the same kit as Lewis and no team orders, he has the beating of him...

CreamyCornCob · Mar 17, 2019

Well well...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-floor-damage-hamilton-australia/

apex11 · Mar 17, 2019

I must say I admire the fact Vettel was happy with a young gun team mate in the first place.
Would never happen at Merc with Lewis there.
Lando, Max and Lance have proved that any number of kids who are in lower formula can get into an F1 car and do well, the fact Merc opted for an average driver like Bottas rather than a young gun is telling...

Something i picked up from the MotoGP commentary was the phrase:
"Young enough to not know what you can't do....."
The way 'kids' can drive / ride around problems in handling due to not knowing how it should feel in the first place...

apex11 · Mar 17, 2019

CreamyCornCob said:
Well well...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-floor-damage-hamilton-australia/

Brilliant..... the champagne isn't even dry on Bottas's overalls yet...

Look, bottom line is if Lewis needs that bit of floor so much then it simply proves the very obvious point that his speed comes from the Merc....
Stick Lewis in the Williams.... he'll never see the top ten this season.....end of..

Ari Antero · Mar 17, 2019

apex11 said:
Well you could submit an argument that Vettel lost the WDC last year due to Ferrari's failures at team orders,

Yes you could submit an argument like above but it would be placebo.

Koen Verlinde · Mar 17, 2019

Yes, it's in their right to do so as they said upfront Vettel would be pushed as Pilot #1 at the beginning.

liby88 · Mar 17, 2019

teamorder sucks always and anywhere

GP20 · Mar 17, 2019

BrainsBush said:
Boardradio LeClerc :

https://twitter.com/i/status/1107178454175436800

And 1minute later they asked him to stay at 5 seconds and Charles asked why?

Unaceptable, this is not sport!

GP20 · Mar 17, 2019

apex11 said:
Brilliant..... the champagne isn't even dry on Bottas's overalls yet...

Look, bottom line is if Lewis needs that bit of floor so much then it simply proves the very obvious point that his speed comes from the Merc....
Stick Lewis in the Williams.... he'll never see the top ten this season.....end of..

Bottas is faster than Hamilton, Leclerc faster than Vettel and Gasly faster than Verstappen. Probably many rokkies are faster than these guys and that's sport.

But here Hamilton is faster than Bottas, Vettel faster than Leclerc (or Raiko) and Verstappen faster than everybody, and it's called politic.

F1's politic world champion that's the real title they deserv. That's how you kill a sport.

OzzyNeil · Mar 17, 2019

Well without team orders there would be nothing else to talk about.

69Harder · Mar 17, 2019

Paul Jeffrey said:
View attachment 296944
Charles Leclerc put up a late race challenge against his team mate, but suddenly dropped back - are team orders at play already?

Ferrari made no bones about the fact that they believe Vettel offers the best chance of a championship this season for the Scuderia, but is it wise, or even fair, to put all their eggs in one basket so early in the season?

Ok, Leclerc is a young newcomer and Vettel a 4-time World Champion, but surely it would be best to give both drivers an equal shot at taking the points and victories, for both the team and the sport itself.

What do you think about the use of team orders in F1? Do you even believe Ferrari deployed instructions to their drivers today, or did Leclerc just run out of pace at the end of the Grand Prix?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

For news, discussion and community, all with a overarching theme of Grand Prix racing - head over to the Formula One sub forum and get yourself involved.

Like what we do at RaceDepartment? Follow us on Social Media!