Mercedes Should Not Implement Team Orders Despite Austrian Grand Prix Crash

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: July 3, 2016

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Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton collided on the final lap of Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix, the third incident between the Mercedes team-mates in the last five Formula One races.

Immediately following the race, Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff said it might be time to consider implementing team orders to control his drivers. Such a decision, though, would be bad for the sport, bad for F1 fans and bad for the Mercedes team and its reputation.

Hamilton and Rosberg have been each others' only real rivals for the drivers' championship since 2014, and Hamilton has won the last two titles. Coming into the Austrian race, though, Rosberg was leading Hamilton by 24 points, thanks to his five victories against his team-mate's two.

Back in 2014, when Rosberg clipped Hamilton in Belgium, ultimately ending the Brit's race, Mercedes committed to allowing their drivers to race for the championship and not issue team orders. That attitude continued through 2015, when, for instance, Rosberg was upset with Hamilton for pushing him wide at start of the U.S. Grand Prix.



At various times, though, Wolff has hinted that the team would do whatever was needed to ensure they continue scoring the best possible results.

For example, after last year's Chinese Grand Prix, he said, "We wouldn't freeze [the race] or anything like this, but it could be a situation when we need to manage them more," per ESPN F1's Laurence Edmondson.

Despite Mercedes' dominance over the past three years, which has negatively affected the level of competition in the sport, they have bought themselves respect by allowing their drivers to race.

Following the crash in Austria, if they do apply team orders, they risk losing that respect and taking the heel turn that Ferrari and Red Bull did their reigns atop the sport in the early 2000s and early 2010s, respectively.

"It seems that talking doesn't bring u...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

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