Ferrari call for team orders to be unbanned

Friday 24th October 2008

Luca di Montezemolo is eager for the FIA to change the rules regarding the use of team orders in Formula One.

Team orders were banned in the wake of Austrian 2002 when Rubens Barrichello blatantly moved aside for Michael Schumacher, earning jeers from the crowd and worldwide condemnation.

However, just because they are banned that doesn't mean they are not used.

In Germany this season Heikki Kovalainen eased aside to allow his faster team-mate Lewis Hamilton move up a position while in China last week Kimi Raikkonen did the same for Felipe Massa.

As a result Ferrari President di Montezemolo has admitted that he would like to talk with FIA President Max Mosley about changing the rules.

"I'll talk about it with Mosley, we need to get rid of this hypocrisy," di Montezemolo told the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.

"The important thing is not to damage others. Besides that, team work, in a team sport, is one of the best things. Think of a cyclist leading the sprint for another."

Your Comments

dezbo1960

"it's all bollox from the same old whingers, if phillipe was good enough and quick enough then kimi would not have the need to slow down and show his hand in what they were doing, one of the guys came up with a crackin solution, send the car that is about to be passed through the pit lane..that way he has to race like anything to regain the position he's gunna give up, massa is very fortunate to have max and his cronies on his side, the ferrari payroll department has seen to that"

zmahecic

"There are critical issues of legality and ethics of such a move to be considered before making any decision. The rule �team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited� is quite ambiguous, and provides the basis for different applications, from completely unnoticed, to becoming a serious offense, probably depending on who the perpetrators are. Still, although teams are forbidden to do it they still have numerous possibilities to go beyond this regulation, which presents a serious problem in judging every specific situation. Ethical question is even more important because this is something that will make F1 and racing highly cherished, or resented by fans. Both issues have a lot to do with perception of F1 at present. Is it really predominantly team sport or fight of individuals armed with the best possible equipment provided by their teams? For many years it was considered battle of the individual drivers. I do not know any friend of mine who is F1 fan to know what teams were winners at the end of the seasons, while many of them know year by year who the champions were. Everybody remembers Stewart, Piquet or Prost were Champions, but very few people care that Lotus or Williams were Constructor champions in the same seasons. If F1 is the team sport why not then return the possibility for the team to call No2 driver in the box and hand over the car to the No1 driver anytime he experience some technical problem? This existed in the early years of F1 and at least one driver became champion while exercising this possibility. Also, what does it really mean to �interfere with the race result�? Every change of the position interferes with the race result, and even more interferes with the championship result too. We saw it in the past, we saw it last year. I really do hope we are not going to see it again so blatantly and amended by the changed regulation.