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 17 - 36 of 76
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 main thrust of Formula 1 is the drivers' championship. There should be no team orders of any kind - otherwise you end up with drivers winning who do not deserve to. Rubens, had he been allowed to race fairly, would almost certainly have beaten Michael to the title. Let them compete, for goodness' sake.
I hope all racers do the best they can! After watching how Pegout orchestrated the end of the 24 Hours Of LeMans for the sake of a picture. But that's how the French are. You would think that America would send them a bill for the liberation of WW2. Michael C.
A question often asked of me is why don't I write some new posts and not just post the same old Potter, Bernard, Marion and Marnio posts? Its a good question and I suppose the answer is that I am a sad old woman who has nothing better to do and not only that but these posts take me days and days to write simply because I am so stupid. After all that when I post them then you lot unkindly thumb them all down so I have to keep re-posting them, its all I have left in life.
I wish I could contribute something positive but I cant the only interest I have in F1 is hate for anyone of black skin. I use Potter, Bernard, Marnio etc to express my racism.
Elam I have never heard that saying before but I am familiar with the saying "Elan is a total muppet" and I like that one.
Beware Elan or you will be punished from on high by a greater force.
It is very amusing to see comments here which says Webber is a very talented driver but very unlucky and stuff. How many seasons will he and his fans keep repeating this excuse? As some one pointed out 'IF' Kimi was not in his way during Q3 then he would have been on pole and so on and so .................. Come on this is racing and these things happen to almost every racing driver, Out of his 7 seasons and 132 starts in F1 - 'the very talented driver' - achieved just 7 podiums?? and the best of it a 2nd place? For people who argue that he never had a good car, ever heard of this saying - 'The best driver end up in the best car'??
Mark is all talk, when it comes to delivering he cant. He should stop whining and focus more on his racing.
He has had 7 seasons to prove his worth, and just 7 podiums, that RB5 deserves a better driver than Mark, Lucky RBR has got Vettel.
Nice to see Colin the pathetic system administrator is polluting the F1 comments with his various user accounts using them to post his usual drivel.
the hamster slapping continues
a max a mosley a just like a muppet a gordon brown willa run a F1 into the a ground before hea leave a like brown a done toa britain mistake after a mistake anda lies a after a lies but a still hea will a nota GO..me a also stilla not a sure a who the a uglyier a me a potter ora stunning a jeanette a also a site a angel a more a muppet thana mr a hamilton asun
a max a mosley a just like a muppet a gordon brown willa run a F1 into the a ground before hea leave a like brown a done toa britain mistake after a mistake anda lies a after a lies but a still hea will a nota GO..me a also stilla not a sure a who the a uglyier a me a potter ora stunning a jeanette a also a site a angel a more a muppet thana mr a hamilton asun
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
Donkey, you're doing it again - you keep going off on a tangent that has no relevance to the subject being discussed here - just keep your weak minded rants to yourself mate or go and start a fight with yourself in an empty room.
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
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
webbers only 3 and a half points behind his team mate in the championship which is goin to make him more determined not to end up as vettels wing man,
MARNIO, MARNIO, WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU MY NEPHEW, WHY ARE YOU SO FULL OF @#$%, YOU WERE NOT BROUGHT UP THAT WAY, YOUR PARENTS TOUGHT YOU COMMON SENSE AND YOU RECIEVED NORMAL SCHOOLING, NOW YOU SPEAK LIES AND UTTER NOTHING BUT NONESENSE, THE C-R-A-P THAT COMES FROM YOUR MOUTH IS NOTHING BUT ENDLESS LIES, WHAT HAS MADE YOU TURN INTO SUCH A P-R-I-C-K AND WHY DOES EVERY HATE YOU SO MUCH, TAKE CAREFUL THOUGH MY NEPHEW AND CONSIDER MY WORDS CAREFULLY AND SHUT UP THAT HORRIBLE TRAP THAT IS YOUR MOUTH, AND DRIBBLE THAT C-R-A-P IN ANOTHER PLACE. EVEN THOUGH THAT I HAVE DISCOVERED FIVE OTHER P-R-I-C-K-S ON THIS SITE BECAUSE YESTERDAY I CONDUCTED A POLE. THEIR IS NO NEED FOR YOU TO BE ONE OF THEM, BUT JUST REMEMBER MY NEPHEW THOSE P-R-I-C-K-S THAT THUMBED MY POSTS DOWN YESTERDAY, AND THAT THUMB MY POSTS DOWN TODAY. ARE ALL VERY MUCH LIKE YOU, ACTING IN THE SAME SPIRIT AS YOU, AND ALL OF THOSE P-R-I-C-K-S THAT HAVE THUMBED ME DOWN OVER THE PAST NUMBER OF DAYS AND WEEKS SINCE I MADE MY FIRST APPEARANCE, HAVE INDICATED THEIR LOVE FOR YOU, AND HAVE SUPPORTED YOU ALL THE WAY. JUST REMEBER WHEN THEY THUMB ME DOWN AND CALL ME NAMES, THEY DO THIS IN SUPPORT FOR YOU.................................................... ...................
OK the car industry might have been decimated by poor management etc(as per usual)
similar to F1
but does it help if you have councils who act like vultures and sharks and that use parking fine money as a fund to boost their own wages and expenses,??
I think that PARKING FINES AND COUNCILS may well become the next issue to strike the money grabbing councils,with their bad signage and road marking ...
The councils think the motorists and the people are fools and that they(the councils)can run unchecked as they use the cash strapped motorist to fund their mismanaged,over budgeted and bigoted attempts at running their inept institutions.
Team orders? Not yet. Webber's only 3.5pts behind, hardly a chasm. We might aswell have team orders after the first race if that's the case. Neither Vettel or Webber are going to be champion this year. Webber's just not good enough and Vettel's too inexperienced and occasionally goes missing during the all too crucial qualifying. Red Bull need their drivers pushing each other to maintain a challenge in the manufacturers' championship. Team orders is just throwing all your eggs into one basket and it closes off any outcome other than your chosen driver being successful. There is no guarantee Vettel is ready to take that responsibility yet. I think Red Bull would be shooting themselves in the foot.
Marnio or "Marion" would suit better, your a bit of a muppet, the persona doesnt work with me, i bet you wet the bed and once touched your mum inapproriatly. your facade that your english is a second language is laughable, i'll bet you have several loggins and post opposing message arguing with yourself. go away, from a medical piont of view you are Psychotic, and should be locked up for your own saftey.
Donkey are you related to francis S?
Your post makes as much sense as all of his.
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