Whilst Sebastian Vettel romped home to his 28th career victory in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, his emphatic win – which puts him sixth in the all time winners list - was somewhat overlooked by some spectacular racing behind the top three, courtesy, to an extent, of Pirelli, but mainly thanks to the McLaren drivers.
It’s not a secret that the boys and girls and Woking dislike team orders. They didn’t like them in the championship winning-era of Senna and Prost under the tutelage of Ron Dennis, so when the team is fighting for midfield positions in an MP4/28 car which is by far it’s finest effort under Martin Whitmarsh’s guidance, it definitely wasn’t a surprise to see Jenson Button and Sergio Perez go at it hammer and tongs in the Sakhir heat.
Whilst, however, it can’t be disputed that the Pirellis played a part in the spectacular McLaren-on-McLaren battle that saw the silver and red cars duel closely with each other for the most part of the race, the overriding factor in the whole episode was the lack of team orders. Despite Button calling for the guys on the pitwall to “cool Perez [him] down”, they still let the cars and their occupants do what they were designed to do; race.
It could be argued that McLaren’s decision to not issue team orders cost McLaren valuable points in the constructor’s championship. Perez may have had the chance to attack Hamilton’s Mercedes for fifth come the end of the race, and Button, had he not overheated his tyres in fighting the young Mexican, could have been right up there in the top six, and not tenth where he finished in the end. But this is motorsport; ‘what if’s’ don’t matter. Where you finish does.
However, given it’s extremely remote that McLaren – despite having a mass upgrade for their beleaguered car in Barcelona – will be fighting for championship honours this year, the lack of team orders made perfect sense from a sporting point of view.
And why?
People save for a long time and pay good money to come and watch Formula 1, so they expect and deserve to see racing. They don’t expect to have the piss taken out of them by having to watch one driver hold station and they don’t want the races to be made artificially exciting thanks to the tires.
McLaren, then, did what any team should and provided the millions of F1 fans around the world with what they wanted to see by letting two world-class drivers race under the absence of team orders. The consequences would be dealt with later…
… Which they did. Very well. This is McLaren and it isn’t F1’s second most successful team for nothing, so what did you expect?
Although Button described his teammate’s on track behaviour as “dirty” after the race, the issue appears to have been dealt behind closed doors with the 2009 world champion today tweeting "important chat yesterday with Checo Perez to clear the air. As a team we will move forward and live to fight another day ... roll on Barcelona".
So, then, McLaren has provided some of the best on and off track entertainment in the wake of Bahrain and thanks to the absence of team orders, it is some of the most honest we’ve seen all year.
It’s not a secret that the boys and girls and Woking dislike team orders. They didn’t like them in the championship winning-era of Senna and Prost under the tutelage of Ron Dennis, so when the team is fighting for midfield positions in an MP4/28 car which is by far it’s finest effort under Martin Whitmarsh’s guidance, it definitely wasn’t a surprise to see Jenson Button and Sergio Perez go at it hammer and tongs in the Sakhir heat.
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| Photo: McLaren F1 Team |
Whilst, however, it can’t be disputed that the Pirellis played a part in the spectacular McLaren-on-McLaren battle that saw the silver and red cars duel closely with each other for the most part of the race, the overriding factor in the whole episode was the lack of team orders. Despite Button calling for the guys on the pitwall to “cool Perez [him] down”, they still let the cars and their occupants do what they were designed to do; race.
It could be argued that McLaren’s decision to not issue team orders cost McLaren valuable points in the constructor’s championship. Perez may have had the chance to attack Hamilton’s Mercedes for fifth come the end of the race, and Button, had he not overheated his tyres in fighting the young Mexican, could have been right up there in the top six, and not tenth where he finished in the end. But this is motorsport; ‘what if’s’ don’t matter. Where you finish does.
However, given it’s extremely remote that McLaren – despite having a mass upgrade for their beleaguered car in Barcelona – will be fighting for championship honours this year, the lack of team orders made perfect sense from a sporting point of view.
And why?
People save for a long time and pay good money to come and watch Formula 1, so they expect and deserve to see racing. They don’t expect to have the piss taken out of them by having to watch one driver hold station and they don’t want the races to be made artificially exciting thanks to the tires.
 |
| Photo: McLaren F1 Team |
McLaren, then, did what any team should and provided the millions of F1 fans around the world with what they wanted to see by letting two world-class drivers race under the absence of team orders. The consequences would be dealt with later…
… Which they did. Very well. This is McLaren and it isn’t F1’s second most successful team for nothing, so what did you expect?
Although Button described his teammate’s on track behaviour as “dirty” after the race, the issue appears to have been dealt behind closed doors with the 2009 world champion today tweeting "important chat yesterday with Checo Perez to clear the air. As a team we will move forward and live to fight another day ... roll on Barcelona".
So, then, McLaren has provided some of the best on and off track entertainment in the wake of Bahrain and thanks to the absence of team orders, it is some of the most honest we’ve seen all year.