Mercedes may consider team orders

[steveaki13]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula-one/27129980

Probably to be expected but a shame if this means no more racing like we saw in Bahrain.

[henners88]

It would be a terrible shame if they did this and I don't see any reason to do it unless it is very very late in the season as we've seen other teams do this. I don't agree with team orders and think this year its likely to be the two Mercedes drivers who will finish first and second in the championship so I say let them race until the bitter end!

[N4D13]

Welcome to the real world. Unfortunately for us, what a team cares the most is just bringing the two cars home in the first two places. It's nice to have thrilling intra-team battles as the one we enjoyed in Bahrain but that is only happening because Mercedes were miles ahead of their opposition. Should the gap to Merc be narrowed -and we know that it will-, you might see that Mercedes won't give as much freedom to their drivers as they do now, unless they have secured the WCC by then. Although, come to think of it, it wouldn't be strange at all to see Mercedes with an unsurmountable lead halfway through the season.

Of course we'd all love drivers to be racing only for themselves but I don't think there is a single person in here who would give their drivers absolute freedom to race each other if the team's WCC depended on it. Or is it?

[Doc Austin]

If it's my team I tell the drivers that the first one who takes the other out is instantly demoted to #2. With that hanging over their heads they will play nice enough with each other.

[Tazio]

:stareup: Not likely daddy-o!

[airshifter]

If it's my team I tell the drivers that the first one who takes the other out is instantly demoted to #2. With that hanging over their heads they will play nice enough with each other.

"Tough luck"

I wonder if a preference in the team will happen?

I do actually agree with you though Doc, and really other than drivers seeing the red mist it should happen that way regardless. I really can't fault Nico and Lewis yet though, and many other team battles have resulted in clean and hard racing as well. It's the times that it gets out of hand they have to worry about.

I would think that thus far the racing on the Mercedes team isn't worthy of team orders not to race, but then again I'm not going to answer to a sponsor or team boss when an untold amount of hardware gets destroyed.

[kfzmeister]

Only team orders they will call is to have The Rosberg let Hamilton through. I don't see it the other way possible.

[anfield5]

I think this will only be an issue later in the season, and only if Red Bull or Ferrari (or another team) start to challenge them. If Merc continue to dominate they will win both titles anyway

[Koz]

Only team orders they will call is to have The Rosberg let Hamilton through. I don't see it the other way possible.

I don't think Lewis needs to be "let through", his race craft is simply that much better.

[journeyman racer]

Some of you are only tempting fate with those comments, disregarding Rosberg.

[Tazio]

Some of you are only tempting fate with those comments, disregarding Rosberg. Personally I think it is good, or at least OK to have convictions about how you think team pilots compare, and I also think The Boss will beat Nico again. However your point is well taken, and I would not count NR out this early, he could come on very strongly and knock LH into tomorrow before it's all over!

[MacFeegle]

Good point. Lewis great racer but Nico very fast too. Look back at history battles and Nico keep Lewis honest man and wont take bum hurt like some drivers. Some team like Ferrari and Michael like lesser #2 or bullshot where favour one driver unfair but Mercedes have two strong driver and good to see push them hard and let race.

[Doc Austin]

I really can't fault Nico and Lewis yet though, and many other team battles have resulted in clean and hard racing as well. It's the times that it gets out of hand they have to worry about.

I don't think Red Bull or Renault are going to be down for very long, so my worry as Mercedes team manager would be sacrificing a 1-2 if my guys took each other out, and spotting Red Bull those points at the end of the season.

Right now it looks like the Total fuel could be the problem for the Renault runners, and if that's so, you can expect them to fix that fast. Newey is going to get the car perfect, and I think we are about to see the best Vettel we have ever seen. If you remember the other times he has had his back to the wall, he has always delivered..... Abu Dabi for his first championship and Brazil (with a wounded car) to win his third.

Red Bull and Vettel are absolutely deadly when they are hooked up, and we have seen how much and how fast they can improve, just over the two week summer break last year.

Mostly when you have the unbeatable car, you worry about throwing the champioshp away by something stupid happening, and having Lewis and Rosberg take each other out could be the deciding factor when all the points are totaled.

Think back to Webber and Vettel, crashing in Turkey. At the end of the year Vettel only beat Alonso at the last possible minute in the last race, and if he had blown up (like he did two races earlier in Korea), the points lost in Turkey would have given Ferrari the driver's championship.

I don't know the answer other than to not let it reach Villeneuve/Pironi or Senna/Prost proportions. The old man had a pattern of pitting his drivers against each other and they very definitely lost Ferrari the championship that year because of it. That could be why no one at Ferrari was ever allowed to challenge Schumacher.

By the time Prost and Senna took each other out in Suzuka the first time, they were so far out of reach from the others it did not matter. Today losing the points from a 1,2 would involve millions and millions of dollars.

[MacFeegle]

Red Bull not down. Still best chassis but Renault crap

[driveace]

Renault are not crap ! They took their eye off the ball game,and didn't start work on the new engine early enough,or seriously enough.Wether they were too confident after winning 4 years in a row with RB ,I don't know ,but they can now only work on reliability on the engine,and will do as much work as they can get away with before the European races start