Gray Matter: Team order time?
Eurosport - Fri, 03 Jul 10:13:00 2009
Red Bull have announced there will be no team orders in their camp at least until the closing races of the season - but how long will that decision really last?
Team orders have been officially banned from the sport ever since Ferrari made a mockery of them during their dominant 2002 championship campaign, when they famously asked Rubens Barrichello to move over for Michael Schumacher at the Austrian Grand Prix and the Brazilian, to make a point, waited until the final corner to make the switch.
Since then, team orders have been the 'decision' of the driver and the team can only suggest that one driver might perhaps be kind enough to allow the other past if it is for the good of the championship.
And this has put Red Bull are in a difficult situation.
Championship-leading Brawn driver Jenson Button is 25 points clear of Red Bull's lead driver Sebastian Vettel, who is third in the title race. Sandwiched between the pair is Button's team-mate Barrichello, who is second but, crucially, 23 points behind.
That makes Button already clearly the number one at Brawn, but at Red Bull Vettel is just 3.5 points ahead of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, who sits in fourth.
German Vettel has hit the headlines with two race wins to Webber's nil so far this year, but the Australian has three second places, has scored in one more race than his team-mate, and is eager to take on both Vettel and Button in a race for the title.
Red Bull gave Brawn a clear hint at Silverstone that Button may need every point he can get to keep hold of his lead to the end of the season, and Brawn are likely to be ready to make that call and ease Barrichello into his all-too-familiar 'number two' position as the season heads over its halfway point, much as Ferrari did during all those years alongside Schumacher.
But Red Bull are far from having the significant level of points gap between their two drivers that would allow them the comfort of calling in 'suggested' team orders. To make the call with 3.5 points between the pair, despite apparent urges from Vettel for the team to do so, would leave Webber fuming and likely create an unfixable rift between team and driver.
Team boss Christian Horner is no fool. He knows his driver line-up is a strong one and he would not want to jeopardise that for the future - but he also knows that to take on what is already effectively a one-man focused team at Brawn he will surely need to adopt a similarly singular focus at Red Bull sooner rather than later if they want to battle for the drivers' crown.
And so these next few races could be crucial.
It's hard to see either of the Red Bull drivers running too far down the points, so the separation gap will likely remain close for the next few races unless either one makes mistakes or suffers unreliability. If that happens, and the gap widens, then surely Red Bull are going to have to start thinking about the championship...
Award-winning sports journalist Will Gray has worked in and around Formula One for more than a decade, providing detailed technical insight as well as live news reports and features for newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph and Daily Star, AFP and Reuters news agencies and a variety of magazines. He has also worked as an F1 expert on TalkSPORT and Irish radio.
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Comment 37 - 56 of 76
If you are serious about F1 please can you all make stupid comments,i find it appalling when people talk sensible about F1. Potatoes are good at the moment, i just brought a new bag of chips and they were delicious. It go's to show how good the F1 potato has improve, and that comes with English Butter.
oW!
Marnio, und was machen wir nun, salty boy?
what next, und vas machen?
now put that salty vest back on
kindly remove your salty pants from my seat Marnio.
get your salty c+ck and b+lls out of my mouth Marnio!
Remind me again Marnio - exactly how many F1 champions have come from Peru? Oh yes, now I remember - none!
Actually wtentschert Potter, Bernard and Marnio are written by a woman called Jeanette Bolan. She is a sad old spinster, very plain and dowdy, or even ugly. She has nothing better to do than repeat-publish this, at times racist nonsense.
Her local day care centre are very worried she might self-harm, no go on let her! lol
POTTER ,shut up cos ya jelous that site angel is fit and you are'nt. Mclaren is best. can say what ya want, when yav finished Mclaren is still best. so is Hamilton.
mea think a site a angel a bigger a Muppet thana Max a sittin a in all a hot onna weekend a scouting from a site toa site a thubing a down what hea dont a like mea think a site a muppet i mean a angel isa 24hrs a day onna thumbing a down a very a sad anda the bigger a Muppet than Max anda mr a hamilton asun toa gether
the hamster slapping continues
Marnio from peru, Potter, Bernard, you are such a pric k, how much of your life have you wasted with this @#$%, it gives me so much enjoyment to count your days and weeks gone down the drain. Hamilton beat you and all the people like you, people like you never win, you know that which is why you are forced to repeat extreme b anal nonsense. How many Hamilton and McLaren fans have you created, have you ever wondered. Lol
Go outside in the sun.
What a sad little man, this Bernard
why you people talk about the tennis????
the tennis very rubbish game. just hitting the ball over a net for the many hours.
i watch the tennis game for the 5 minute and i fell into sleep so the deep i thought i had the died and when i woke up i thought i was in heaven with michael jackson.
tennis is the game for the middle aged lady and the older gentleman who can not get the girlfriend.
and why the brits go on about it so much?? no one ever seen on tv a british person win a tennis tornament because the last time a british person win a tennis tournament the tv not yet the invented.
this andy maurry is the good player, but like so many other english sport stars he fail to deliver when it the matters.
if i were the english i would invent some new sports because they not the very good at the ones we have now.
and i not know why the english and the scots argue so much.
they are the same as far i am concerned. in peru we see england as the country and we not really understand why the scots not just accept they are english people too, but just from the more northerly regions of the england. if they make the one, they may be better at playing the tennis and the football. in fact, why is the brits so bad at sports?
Nicely put j.clark440
This article has nothing to do with last year in Brazil. Give it a rest.
i must admit after reading some of these posts Touron does have a point.
Why did glok slow down so much in the last lap..
Why was glok driving on the wet side of the track in the last few remaining bends allowing hamilton to take the inside DRY line to victory.
HHHmmmmmm.....seems a little suspicious to me...Can anyone enlighten me as to why Glok lost so much time on the Last Lap it was if he was abducted by the ALIENS
Whats it all about..
Why cant this question be answered especially by mclaren fans and especially by Doughnut Ray $%^&...
Why has the evidence ie..the last lap of the brazilian GB especially the last few corners been removed from You Tube..
Why do Mclaren fans keep running away from this question and the Truth..
people keep saying wait till jeremey clarkson show..all will be revealed...
i mean considering glok was on slick tyres why was he driving right in the wet line of the track on the last few corners..everyone keeps saying they are surprised he finished at all considering the conditions...Various posts state it was like an ice rink...
So why was Glok driving in the WET on SLICKS on the WET LINE NOT/ THE DRY LINE on the last few bends....please tell im waiting and have been all Day and probably will be for a long time yet.
SHUYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
TIMESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
WORLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
CHAMPIONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
LOVE ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
RAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY....the Runaway Kid...lol
THIS RECORD WILL NEVER BE MATCHED!!!!!!!!!!!
ps...for the record any driver who won the title in 2008 was going to inherit a phoney crown After the season weve had,,,HOLD YOUR HEADS IN SHAME MCLAREN FOR ANOTHER CHEATING YEAR IN 2009 AS IM SURE YOU WILL!!!and you didnt disappoint did you............
mr hamiltons son say he stay with mclaren men for life. that nice for him but what do mclaren men say? you see mclaren is now german owned. the parent company is the mercedes benz which is the german. the engine is the german engine. everything about the team is the german. mr hamiltons son now the swiss gentleman he eat much cheese and sings in the morning at mountains. mr hamiltons father is also now the swiss man. in fact there nothing british about this team at all. even the man who tidy up the garage after the race has moved to switzerland with his mother. switzerland is owned by the german. my friends the whole team is GERMAN - and guess what - so is mr glock. now you see why the time stand still for mr glock on the last lap. like he in the time warp. not even the people abducted by the alien lose the amount of time he lost on that last lap. IT IS A DISGRACE!!! ANOTHER CHEATIN YEAR IN 2009 FROUM MCLAREN AND CHEATIN BASHIN MR HAMILTONS SON ....mr a hamilton asun the bigger a cheat
ita a shame the a way a F1 isa now going ita seem to a start once a mr a hamilton asun a joined muclaren from a dirty a tactics onna track thena to the a Spyagate anda then a Lieagate anda witha corrupt a stewards anda keep a changin a rules a F1 asa never a been same a since.. itta nowa a farce a since a mr a hamilton asun arrived ata muclaren they are a now tarnished asa biggest a Cheat anda mr a hamilton asun with a fake a phoney Cheating a title itta couldnt a got any a worse mea think a why a FIA want anda keep a changin the rules after a spyagate anda lieagate toa bring the a JUSTICE a back to the a Tracks
BUTTON THE A NEW KING OFA F1........F1 WORLD CHAMPION 2009-2010....JENSON A BUTTON
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