5 Team-Order Controversies That Shamed Formula 1

Team orders have been a part of Formula One since the first world championship was held in 1950.

Most teams used them to some degree or another, and not just in the modern, "move aside" manner; in the days when such things were allowed, it wasn't uncommon for a driver to be asked to give up his car to the team leader.

Juan Manuel Fangio benefited from this practice three times in seven races on his way to the 1956 drivers' title and nobody batted an eyelid. F1 progressed through the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and into the 1990s. Teams continued to openly favour one driver over the other—and no one really minded.

Maybe team orders were unfair, and certainly some fans didn't like them, but F1 was a team sport. The teams were entitled to ask their employees to do whatever they wished.

But this view didn't last forever. After almost half a century of acceptance, the late 1990s and early 2000s saw "team orders" become dirty words.

TV coverage improved, the Internet gave fans a louder voice than ever before and in less than a decade, team orders went from being an accepted part of the sport to a loathed, embarrassing and temporarily illegal stain on F1's image.

On the anniversary of the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix—scene of perhaps the most controversial and unsavoury team-orders moment of them all—we look back at five incidents from recent F1 history that heaped shame upon the sport.

1998 Australian Grand Prix

McLaren had plenty of cause for optimism as they headed into 1998. The once-mighty team, fallen giants in recent years, had shown strong form toward the end of 1997, and their MP4/13 was the first McLaren designed from the ground up by Adrian Newey.

Mika Hakkinen took pole for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Team-mate David Coulthard was alongside, with third-placed Michael Schumacher half a second slower.

McLaren knew they had more than enough pace to take an easy one-two but were unsure about reliability. Therefore, they agreed before the start that whoever led into the first corner would be allowed to win the race.

That man was Hakkinen. He pulled out a gap and looked set for an easy win; the world would never have to know about the pre-race deal.

But a misunderstanding on the team radio led to the Finn making an unscheduled visit to the pits on Lap 35. Coulthard took the lead, and it seemed he was on course for victory.

The race went on and Hakkinen closed up—then something extraordinary happened. With only a few laps to go, Coulthard slowed on the pit straight and allowed his team-mate to pass. The agreement came out in the post-race press conference.

Speaking in 2007, Ron Dennis admitted he had intervened. He was quoted by Kevin Garside of The Telegraph, saying:

"

Team orders are what you bring to bear to manipulate a grand prix. We do not and have not manipulated grands prix, unless there were some exceptional circumstances, which occurred in Australia [1998], when someone had tapped into our radio and instructed Mika Hakkinen to enter the pits.

He entered the pits and I reversed that, because that was unfair, that was an outside influence on the outcome of the race.

"

Hakkinen deserved to win the race and only landed behind Coulthard due to events outside his control. Unsavoury or otherwise, the team had justification for making the call.

But the response from some areas of the public and governing body was less than understanding. The World Motorsport Council investigated and, per ESPN, ruled "any future act prejudicial to the interests of competition should be severely punished."

The "Anti-Team Orders Era" had begun in earnest.

2002 Austrian Grand Prix

Ferrari arrived in Austria for the sixth round of the 2002 grand prix in a dominant position. Michael Schumacher held a 21-point lead in the drivers' championship after winning four of the first five races; despite a string of non-finishes for team-mate Rubens Barrichello, the team also led the constructors' championship.

It was fairly clear to anyone with even a shred of a racing mind that Ferrari had the best car and the best driver—barring a minor (or perhaps major) miracle, Schumacher was set for his third consecutive world title.

Sadly, it wasn't clear to those at Maranello.

Barrichello produced a great lap to take pole position. He was joined on the front row by the Williams of Ralf Schumacher, with Michael in third after, per BBC Sport's lap-by-lap coverage, he was forced to set his time in the spare car.

Making a good start, Barrichello led into the first corner and drove a faultless race. Remaining ahead through two safety-car periods and two pit stops, the Brazilian was set for a well-deserved first win of the season.

But behind the scenes, the dark side of Ferrari was at work. Barrichello led all the way around the final lap and exited the last corner in the lead—then lifted just short of the line, allowing Schumacher to take the win.

Speaking to Brazilian TV in 2008 (h/t GP Update), he revealed the depths the team had plumbed:

"

At the Austrian Grand Prix [2002] I was told over the radio "Do you know that Michael is behind you? It is important for the championship". The intensity of my conversation with the team increased with every lap while there were just a few laps to go and then I was told that they would take a closer look at my contract if I wouldn't move over.

For me it was pretty clear. Take my foot off the pedal or get fired. When I asked Michael [Schumacher] if he knew what was going on he said he had nothing to do with it. But I have documents at home to prove that he was very well aware of everything that took place.

"

The crowd at the circuit (video here) and fans around the world responded with fury, made all the more potent by the utterly pointless nature of Ferrari's demand. Had he finished second, Schumacher would still have left Austria with 50 points and a 23-point championship lead.

There was absolutely no need to force Barrichello aside. Such was his dominance, Schumacher finished the year with 144 points; his closest challenger (aside from Barrichello) scored just 50.

The incident left an uncomfortable stain on the character of both Schumacher and his team and led to the banning of team orders that affected the result of a race. Largely ignored, this ban was lifted for 2011 after the FIA accepted it was impossible to enforce.

A longer video showing more of the build-up and aftermath of the incident can be found here.

Singapore Grand Prix 2008

Renault won the drivers' and constructors' championships in 2005 and 2006, but by 2008 they were on the decline. Though Fernando Alonso had returned following a single turbulent season at McLaren, the team had just a single podium to their name after 14 of the year's 18 races.

The 15th was the Singapore Grand Prix.

The car had moderately decent pace, but qualifying was a disaster; Alonso lined up 15th after suffering a mechanical fault in Q2, with team-mate Nelson Piquet alongside him on the eighth row.

Alonso had made his way up to 11th by the time he made a very early first stop on Lap 12. Two laps later, Piquet crashed heavily at the exit of Turn 17, and the safety car came out to ensure a safe recovery of his Renault.

In 2008, a safety-car deployment resulted in the pit lane being closed for business until all the cars had lined up behind it. This played perfectly into Alonso's hands; as all those ahead of him queued up and then filed into the pits, he moved to the front of the pack.

The Spaniard went on to win the race, and it seemed like a coincidence that he was the primary beneficiary of Piquet's crash. It later turned out this wasn't the case.

A year later, Piquet was dropped by Renault and the truth came out—he had been told by the team to crash at the specific time and location. As the video above shows, he'd even practiced on the warm-up lap.

Following an FIA investigation, Renault team principal Flavio Briatore received a lifetime ban from F1 and engineering director Pat Symonds got a five-year ban, per the Daily Mail. Both suspensions were later overturned, but the race result was not.

Alonso's career statistics say he has won 32 grands prix. Whether or not he knew anything about the plot, this one should have been erased.

German Grand Prix 2010

The 2010 Formula One season was as close as any in recent years. Three teams had cars capable of winning at least certain races and every point mattered.

The German Grand Prix was the 11th round of the 19-race championship. Sebastian Vettel qualified on pole, edging out Fernando Alonso by just 0.002 seconds. Alonso's Ferrari team-mate, Felipe Massa, was third.

When the red lights went out on Sunday, Vettel veered sharply across the track in an unsuccessful attempt to cover off Alonso—while Massa rocketed past both of them to take the lead. Though the Spaniard remained close behind and looked the quicker of the two Ferrari drivers, he could not find a way by.

Not by fair means, anyway.

With 20 laps to go, Massa's race engineer Rob Smedley came on his team radio. The words he spoke have become infamous and can be heard on BBC Sport's website:

"OK, so. Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?"

Massa moved aside a lap later, and Smedley came back on the radio to say, "OK mate, good lad. Just stick with him now. Sorry."

Commentator Martin Brundle noted the similarities to Austria 2002, and as then it wasn't overly appreciated by the F1 community. Team orders were supposedly illegal at the time, but as reported by The Telegraph, Ferrari got away with a paltry $100,000 fine.

Including Germany, there were nine races left in the season. Though Alonso was 31 points ahead of Massa before the race began—and in defence of the radio message, was indeed faster—both still had a chance of winning the title.

Everyone understands a team order if only one driver in the team has a chance of taking the crown. But those made this early in the season, especially when a race win is at stake, leave a poor taste in the mouth.

Malaysian Grand Prix 2013

Red Bull entered 2013 having won the drivers' and constructors' championships every year since 2010. They didn't get off to the best start in their defence of both titles at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, but next time out in Malaysia they looked stronger.

Sebastian Vettel qualified on pole in wet conditions; team-mate Mark Webber could only manage fifth. The track was slippery and damp again when the race started on Sunday, but would need only a few laps before it was ready for slicks.

Pole-sitter Vettel led until he made an early stop for slicks. Webber, who had risen to second, stayed out on intermediates for three more laps and gained enough time to take the lead.

The order remained the same for most of the race and Webber had a small but comfortable gap as the duo approached their final stops. But Red Bull brought Vettel in first and the undercut erased the five-second deficit to Webber.

The two were nearly neck-and-neck when the Australian emerged from his stop, but Webber remained ahead. Red Bull decided the race should end there and then—Vettel had other ideas.

Ignoring the order to hold position, he attacked and passed his team-mate with 10 laps to go. Vettel went on to win, while a furious Webber crossed the line in second.

Mercedes, meanwhile, were attempting to make the jump from midfield also-ran to the front of the grid. Lewis Hamilton had just joined from McLaren to partner Nico Rosberg, but the German squad's W04 didn't have a happy relationship with the Pirelli tyres.

Toward the end of the race they were running third and fourth. Rosberg wanted to attack his team-mate for the final podium place, but Mercedes had decided they should stay in formation, protect the cars and cruise to the flag.

Unlike Vettel, Rosberg complied, and Hamilton scored his first podium for Mercedes. According to ESPN, the Brit said afterward:

"

The team did a fantastic job and it's great to be [on the podium] for them. If I'm honest I really feel that Nico should be standing here, he generally had better pace than me throughout the race but he's a great team-mate and he did a fantastic job today.

I can't say it's the best feeling being up here but racing is racing and I've really just got to keep looking forward.

"

While not a "shameful" race and outcome in the sense the others listed here were, this race highlighted the willingness of two of the sport's top teams to deprive fans of some action and their drivers of the opportunity to race.

It also shone an uncomfortable light back onto the subject of team orders. The sport would probably rather we forgot they existed at all.