SCH ‘Sammy’ Davis – very much a pioneer in the early days of ‘our’ sport – describes in his classic 1920’s book ‘Motor Racing’ how he kept his drivers in a prescribed order, often deciding prior to a race who would finish ahead, explaining that this was necessary in order to keep them from fighting amongst each other and risking either an accident or a breakdown.
Alfred Neubauer – legendary Mercedes-Benz team manager – is often credited with ‘inventing’ pit signals, and outlines the system of arrows, numbers and other symbols that he used to convey instructions to his drivers in his 1950’s book ‘Speed was my life’. More often than not these orders were for the team cars to slow down and hold station, as the opposition was no longer a threat.
Alf Francis – team manager for Stirling Moss in the early fifties – gives a brief description of the colour coded signalling he used to indicate to Moss whether to go faster, slower, or keep the pace in his very readable ‘A Racing Mechanic’, again from the fifties.
Mario Andretti and Ronnie Peterson at Lotus in 1978; Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve at Ferrari in 1979; Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann in 1980 and 1981; Gilles, again, and Didier Pironi in the fateful San Marino Grand Prix, 1982, and right through to Michael Schumacher, throughout his entire career at Ferrari – all are examples of team orders being used, for whatever reason, in Grand Prix Racing.
So, why the furore over Ron Dennis giving his two young charges a ‘hold station and slow down’ order during the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday?
The truth is that there should be no furore, and that certain elements of the UK press are seeing a conspiracy where there is none. Lewis Hamilton should have won, they trumpet, he was ‘robbed’ of victory in his favourite race.
This omits the very obvious fact that he was never ahead of Fernando Alonso but for the pit stops, and that while catching Alonso he was, passing would have been another thing altogether. The old adage that springs to mind – to finish first, first you have to finish – has never been more apt than in this instance. Lewis was not first, Alonso was.
That I highlight the British press as the culprits is further enhanced by the various headlines across Europe:
“McLaren Mercedes are not only silver, they are gold” said Focus, in Germany.
“Prince of Monaco” proclaimed El Mundo in Spain.
"It is again clear who is the double world champion and who is the debutant" declared another Spanish publication, Diario AS.
The Italians, courtesy of Corriere dello Sport, ran with a tale of a ‘disappointing and never dangerous’ Ferrari performance, to no-one’s great surprise.
Back in Britain, however, and the news of the imminent FIA investigation into Mclaren team orders was greeted with something bordering on delight.
“There is even the possibility they (Mclaren) may be thrown out of the championship, and William Hill have suspended betting on it..” writes Jonathon McEvoy in the Daily Mail, going on to compare the incident (or lack of, in fact) with the famous ‘Austria-gate’ scandal of 2002, in which Rubens Barrichello blatantly let Michael Schumacher through for the victory. Of course, this led to the current rule that ‘bans’ team orders.
But can there be a similarity between the Austria incident – where one driver slowed to allow another to pass – and the current affair, where nothing actually changed?
The FIA regulation clearly states that ‘Team orders which interfere with a result will be prohibited’. How was the result interfered with? Alonso was in front, with Hamilton second, and they were asked to stay in those positions. Nothing, quite clearly, ‘interfered with the result’.
Unless the FIA conclude that ‘the result’ can be interpreted as ‘the result that may have been, but probably would not’ then any sensible observer can see that there is no case to answer. Ron Dennis simply did what any team manager with two cars, driven by two very eager drivers, in the dangerous environs of Monaco and ahead without challenge, would have done.
Hamilton, writes McEvoy, was so angry he refused to slow down, forcing Dennis to intervene personally in the radio communications.
This may well be the case, and one can understand the young mans anger and disappointment, but it in no way changes the fact that there was no interfering with the result. Hamilton is young, very fast, and very possibly great – his time will come, he will enjoy his days in the sun.
The possibility of excluding Mclaren from the championship that McEvoy expounds is, in reality, nothing more than wishful thinking.
First, the penalty would not fit the crime (if, indeed, one deems a crime has been committed) and second, to punish the drivers – innocent and helpless ‘victims’ in all of this – would make no sense. Not to mention that removing Mclaren would remove two of the biggest draws in the sport at a time when Lewis Hamilton is beginning to fit very nicely into the gap left by Michael Schumacher, and Fernando Alonso is the only World Champion in the field. No, to suggest any chance of disqualification is short sighted, at the very least.
Team orders, or in this case ‘team strategy’ as Ron Dennis prefers to say, have been with us since the sport began, as the examples above confirm.
In the opening race of the year we clearly heard – on the in-car radio - one Honda driver requesting that his team mate, immediately ahead and clearly slower, be asked to move aside. He was, and eventually did. The same thing occurred on occasions last season, within the Renault team. It is clear, then, that teams are still using ‘team strategy’ despite the ban, and nothing was done in the case of the Honda incident, perhaps because they finished far down the field.
The Daily Mail report mentions that William Hill, giants of the betting world, has suspended betting on the outcome of the World Championship. In order to fit the story, it omitted the following quote, from the media director of Williams Hill, Graham Sharpe:
"Whether a team comes out and admits it or not you know full well that on occasion there will be situations where a result, which will suit a particular team better, may well be engineered."
Sensible words indeed. Odd, then, that another bookmaker – Paddy Power – announced the intention to refund any punter who backed Hamilton, and ‘feels cheated’ by the result.
Why? Hamilton was in second place all race; he was not looking to win and asked to give way to his team mate, and he had a mountain to climb in catching and passing an equally fast, equally determined Fernando Alonso at the one circuit where passing is not aided by half a mile of concrete run off.
How many of us have ‘felt cheated’ when our team were not awarded what was, we insist, a perfectly valid penalty? Would Paddy Power refund the fiver we put on for the win?
The FIA have only one sensible course of action in this matter, and that is to conclude that there is no case. Anything else would throw the very essence of a Constructors Championship - where two cars are allowed to score for a team – into turmoil. They must accept that a ‘hold station’ order is far from that we saw at Austria in 2002, and that a team manager – even Ron Dennis – is free to tell his drivers to ease off, save the car, collect the full score.
The UK press, meanwhile need to take a step back and consider that Lewis Hamilton has only driven in five Grands Prix. He has finished no lower than third, and never failed to finish. Had he been ahead yesterday, when Ron made his call (and when that was is irrelevant in this context) then he would have been the one to benefit.
Would we have seen such a palaver from the men of the Fourth Estate then? Would Ron have been pressed into admitting that team strategy was put into place? Would the FIA have seen fit to leap into a knee-jerk investigation of a crime that was never committed?
I doubt it. Instead, the UK headlines would have screamed that Lewis Hamilton was the one, the victor at Monaco, and that the team orders, if they were even mentioned, were absolutely fair, above board, and, anyway, up to Ron.
Lewis Hamilton will have his day (many days, the way things are looking) in the sun, but from the moment the lights went out on Sunday, and he ducked in behind Fernando Alonso, this was not going to be it.
Written by Steve Turnbull on Tue, 29 May 2007 13:55:59
[ Print View ][ E-Mail Article ]
