Team orders in Formula One
McLaren team orders considered breach of Sporting Code
Alonso won the Monaco GP ahead of his team mate Hamilton. However it came to light after the race that McLaren boss, Ron Dennis, told his drivers to hold position.
"There will be times and places when they are free to race, but this isn't one of them." Dennis said. He went on to say, "Consequently you virtually have to decide in advance which one of the team’s two drivers will claim the victory."
The FIA took notice and announced that: "The FIA has launched an investigation into incidents involving the McLaren Mercedes team at the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix in light of a possible breach of the International Sporting Code. The relevant evidence is under review and a further announcement will be made in due course."
This is however not new to Formula 1. Team orders are in fact as old Formula 1 itself.
In 1956 Juan Manual Fangio was handed his teammate, Peter Collins’s car to finish and win the world championship. Collins later told Enzo Ferrari "I never thought that a 25 year-old guy like me could take on such a big responsibility. I have lots of time ahead of me. Fangio should stay world champion for another year. He deserves it." However, Collins would never get to win the championship, he died in 1958.
1961 saw Wolfgang von Trips being ordered to the lead ahead of Ritchie Ginther and Giancarlo Baghetti. Both would retire and Baghetti became the first and only driver to win his first grand prix race.
John Surtees was handed the championship in the last race in 1964 when Lorenzo Bandini let him pass so that Graham Hill would not win the championship.
Jody Scheckter had Gilles Villeneuve kept behind him for the win at Monza 1979 to make sure he could win his first and only championship.
In 1994 Williams used team orders to help Damon Hill’s championship challenge when David Coulthard moved out of the way for him to win at Monza. In Australia in 1996 Williams again ordered one of its drivers, this time Jacques Villeneuve, to move over to help Hill win another race.
Jacques Villeneuve only needed 3rd place to secure his championship in 1997 and after a deal between McLaren and Williams, Villeneuve gave Mika Hakkinen his first win.
At the Australian GP in 1998, Coulthard moved over to let Hakkinen win after a deal involving whoever reached the 1st corner in 1st place would win the race if they were in a position to do so.
This caused the FIA to point out that "any act prejudicial to the interest of any competition" should in future be penalized severely. Later that same year there was a clarification in which it was said that there had been "considerable misunderstanding" about team orders and that they were not prohibited.
The world council ruled, "What is not acceptable, in the world council’s view, is any arrangement which interferes with a race and cannot be justified by the relevant team’s interest in the championship."
Following on from the 2002 Austrian debacle the international sporting code now states that it would punish "any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally."
McLaren however is confident that the FIA will rule in their favor "McLaren are completely comfortable with the FIA's investigation into our race strategy and that all decisions taken both before and during the race were completely in compliance with the International Sporting Code."
What angers F1 fans though is the situation where the two cars in the lead of a Grand Prix are not actually racing each other. It seems however as if the only penalty McLaren might incur would be in the form of a fine.
