Team Orders

[Dare]

Seems to me when a driver drives a heck of a  race
and has a 6 second lead and his teamie can't make
up the ground maybe he deserves the win. Maybe I'm
wrong

[Willy]

I absolutely agree Dare.
That p*ssed me off when Mclaren asked Lando to move over to allow Oscar to take the win.
Yes Oscar got to the 1st corner ahead and held the lead for many laps but it was the team that brought in Lando for tires and left Oscar out an extra lap that allowed Lando to gain the lead. Lando did not make any underhanded moves to gain that position. It was totally a team pitwall decision.
For the team to threaten Lando with his standing within the team to force him to give up 25 points (when he is in a fight for the Championship lead) is very poor management.
Up until this race I was a Mclaren fan but this makes me rethink my support.

[rmassart]

I am wondering if from now on all the McLaren calls will be in Lando's favour. I think they wanted to ensure Oscar had his first win, but if he's still 40 pts behind Lando after the break I think the team will be all out to support Lando, if it doesn't cost the team points. That's how I understood the radio messages.

I really want this season to go down to the wire and Lando seems to be the best bet for that, so I hope I am right!

[Dare]

I am wondering if from now on all the McLaren calls will be in Lando's favour. I think they wanted to ensure Oscar had his first win, but if he's still 40 pts behind Lando after the break I think the team will be all out to support Lando, if it doesn't cost the team points. That's how I understood the radio messages.

I really want this season to go down to the wire and Lando seems to be the best bet for that, so I hope I am right!

Trouble is we have a whole half to go and with the McLaren's
improvement those lost points could cost Norris the championship.
Does Oscar really feel like he deserved this win?

[Jericoke]

Seems to me when a driver drives a heck of a  race
and has a 6 second lead and his teamie can't make
up the ground maybe he deserves the win. Maybe I'm
wrong

If Norris simply out drove Piastri, sure.  However Piastri's strategy was compromised in a gamble that the team made.

Further, McLaren has had a LONG standing 'team order' tradition.   We may not be in the regimented Ron Dennis days, but if there's a few things required of you to drive at McLaren, then you do them.

This isn't just about today's win, or even this year's championship.  McLaren is a team with hundreds of employees.  If Norris doesn't have to play by the rules, then why does anyone?  Why would a driver come to McLaren if a rule meant to minimize politicking can be brazenly ignored?

[Andy B]

It seems McLaren were not the only ones with controversial team orders with the Aston's getting in on the act too.
LS was told to let FA past for the final point and the request continued right up to the flag with no response from LS.
I wonder if the handbags were out at the de-brief?

[John S]

I don't like team orders in general, but team had called him in earlier than Oscar to protect him from a potential attack on his 2nd place.
They choose that course knowing that it would almost certainly disadvantage Oscar, which it did, so swapping over for return to status quo, Oscar 1 & Lando 2 was the intended plan.   

It was Norris being a t*t and making a run for glory that made McLaren play out a stupid game over the radio.

Oscar fell further behind Lando because he was following the team's set lap sector times. Norris on the other hand kept selfishly pushing harder than team's optimum times and potentially risking DNF with his showboating.   

Has Lando with all his experience in F1 not realised the real champions mantra of F1 - Win in the slowest possible time!