Mercedes: Instructions between Hamilton and Rosberg would have been “horrendous”
Mercedes technical director, Paddy Lowe, is absolutely against team orders. He believes they do not align with Mercedes' philosophy. He prefers to trust his drivers not to cross the line.
Paddy Lowe thinks it would be very bad for motor racing to issue team orders to ensure a race result. On this subject, he stated after his team’s one-two finish in Bahrain: « Imagine if we had imposed team orders from the second lap. It would have been dreadful for F1 and for Mercedes’ philosophy in motorsport. It’s something we owe to ourselves, to the sport, and to the drivers. They are professionals, and we want to give them the chance to race, and that’s what they do. »
Towards the end of the race, the safety car entered the track, thus closing up the positions. Nico Rosberg, then on soft tires, behind his teammate, was going to be able to attack Lewis Hamilton on medium tires. It seemed that the possibility existed that the two drivers might collide.
But Lowe asserts that he had confidence and did not give any instructions other than to be at the finish: « To be honest, I wasn’t more worried than that because I know they are great professionals. They are experienced drivers; they know their job. I just reminded them during the safety car that the most important thing was to bring the cars home. But that didn’t mean ‘don’t race’ – it just meant there is a limit not to cross which would endanger the car. They handled it perfectly. »
In 2013, at the Malaysian Grand Prix, Mercedes instructed Nico Rosberg not to attack Lewis Hamilton, who was ahead of him. The faster German complied with the orders from his pit wall, not without reminding his team to “remember” this race.
The star-branded firm likely remembered this incident when deciding to let its drivers act freely this year. The show put on during the Bahrain race can only prove Mercedes right.
At Red Bull, we witnessed a magnificent overtaking by Ricciardo on Vettel. At Williams, they decided to let the drivers have freedom as well, after a Malaysian episode during which Massa decided to stay ahead of Bottas against his team’s advice. This trend thus seems to be spreading to the great delight of the spectators.
