The argument
David Coulthard has openly voiced his opinion that Formula One simply cannot exist without the use of team orders. "I think that every step of the way there's team decisions" Adrian Newey (Red Bull) doesn't leave any space untapped in the car.
"If you are in his team and you are a smaller teammate who is
equally quicker or potentially quicker he'll design the car around him. "Obviously there's minimum size templates that have to go in there but there are other areas they can steal space for the drivers so right from the first decision of the design right through to what happens and what engine goes in the car there's team decisions, team orders and of course we don't like to see it; I never like to have team orders but I think it's impossible to operate without them".
To which Eddie Irvine retaliated "I wouldn't say it's impossible but it's very, very difficult.
"Team orders are inevitable. I wouldn't say it can't exist without them. If it's made illegal it's illegal and Ferrari did break the rules. "If it's not forcible properly and if it's not written properly then it's a mess and that's what we have at the minute.
"Until they think of a way that they can have it where they're sure that the drivers can race each other then there can't be team orders".
Despite this, he still believes team orders should not be allowed: "It's illegal now and for me it should stay illegal".
The fact is, team orders are banned, and now that the precedent is set for a minute fine, teams will be eager to express themselves if they are faced with harsher punishments for committing the same crime. Team orders may have been around since the start of F1 , and they may have only been pushed under the carpet now that they have been banned, but with the FIA set to clarify the rule on team orders for the 2011 season, I feel a compromise has to be made and it clarified: what is a team order?
I think the answer to team orders lies within the law itself. Section Article 39.1 of the 2010 Sporting Regulations states "Team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited". When team orders are given to improve a car or improve its suitability to the driver, it is not interfering with a result and guaranteeing that driver a win, only benefiting them.
It could easily be said that when Red Bull took Mark Webber's front wing and gave it to Sebastian Vettel that it was an order from the team to do so. Vettel at that stage was ahead of the championship and the one they had their championship hopes on. However, this front wing was in no way guaranteed to give him a win: Vettel got pole, attributed to the front wing because it improved his speed by tenths of a second, the amount by which Vettel succeeded Webber. However, Webber went on to win the English Grand Prix at Silverstone, stating "not bad for a number two driver". Had the situation been different and Vettel won ahead of Webber, would Red Bull have been under investigation for team orders 'which [interfered] with a race result'?However, when Massa was ordered to move over for Alonso, it is fairly presumptuous that Alonso will win. If there are two cars, and the faster one in is first place, the faster car will win. Not only did the move prevent fans from seeing a race, but it also brought the sport into disregard, all of which could have been prevented by a subtly longer pit for Massa, allowing Alonso to take first place. Being sneaky doesn't make it any better, though perhaps it would have been for the best both for Ferrari and the credibility of the sport had nobody have known.
I think that team orders need to be settled on a case by case basis: they should remain illegal, but only in the case that a result is fixed as a result of them; 'fixed' being the operative word. If engineers and team bosses want to favour one driver and give them a better package than the other, or make orders within the team (after all F1 is a team sport), then that should be allowed, but when the drivers are on the track, they should be allowed to race, and not forced to do otherwise. Perhaps changing the wording of the law from 'interfere' to 'fix' would suffice, or at least contribute towards resolving the issue.
Martin Brundle's opinion is that it is circumstantial. "It's not a black and white situation.
"Everybody accepts that that team order rule is unworkable. Ferrari could very easily have pulled up half a dozen examples where team orders have been used by other teams already this year and it just wasn't followed up on".
"I think the FIA didn't have anywhere to go on that... and i know it frustrates the fan but that's the way it is".
The only way team orders can be rectified is to properly clarify what a team order is, and in what instances they are not allowed, because, on a broad basis, Formula One truly cannot function without team orders. That is the problem, team orders is too a broad term to simply say all team orders are banned. It is the same with any law, which is why the English Legal System is in such a state and why so many laws have to be amended or repealed. With the major difference being, we cannot do anything about the law, but people can and people will certainly stop watching Formula One if the broad and unspecific laws bring the sport into disregard.
And it is that what mustn't happen to the sport. Fans of Formula One are less concerned about the fact that there has been a team order as they are to the utter blatancy under which it was carried out.
"I think that what people are generally upset about is that Ferrari treated the people badly. They treated them like idiots and muppets, because it was so blatant.
"Now that's where i think this team order thing happens. We mustn't muddy the waters, of course cars are designed for one driver or another and that's going to always happen.
What people out there in the grandstands don't want to see is something that's contrived. - Eddie Jordan
I'll leave you with this final statement that ultimately sums up what needs to happen if the FIA are seriously considering keeping team orders illegal, and what should have happened back in 2002.
"If they're going to write the rule let's write it properly". - Eddie Irvine
