Were Red Bull Right To Give Team Orders?

In the aftermath of the British Grand Prix, which saw one of the most exciting finishes to a Grand Prix for a while (since Canada at least), it emerged that Mark Webber had ignored at least two team orders, instructing him to "maintain the gap" to his team mate Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel, as now appears customary, led most of the Grand Prix. In the closing stages the Australian's pace was much quicker than his team mate's, and was catching him considerably each lap.

A radio message from Red Bull boss Christian Horner to Webber was braodcast during the final laps. "Maintain the gap, Mark" was played for all TV audiences to hear, but all radio messages are delayed before being broadcast. It was immediately clear that Webber had either not received, or was deliberately ignoring the instruction, as he continued to gain on his younger team mate.

Webber attempted an overtaking manoeuver on Vettel on the former start/finish straight, but Vettel defended well and prevented the pass.

Webber defended his decision to disobey his team in the post-race press conference, and again on his column on the BBC website, saying that he knew that provided he acted sensibly and didn't collide with his team mate, then he would be able to sleep easily, which he wouldn't have been able to do if he obeyed his team and maintained the gap.

Were Red Bull right to give this instruction?

Sebastian Vettel is so far ahead in the Championship race (80 points ahead) he could afford to miss the next three races and he would still be leading.
If the two drivers had collided and they had both retired from the race, Vettel's lead would have been reduced to 71 points, and Mark Webber would have fallen from second in the Championship to fourth, with Hamilton benefiting the most - overtaking Webber and Alonso to move second.

Arguably, the team orders - if they were to be used - should perhaps have been given to Vettel, instructing him to let his faster team mate through. If this would have happenend, Vettel's lead would be reduced to 74 points, with Webber still second, Alonso third and Hamilton fourth.

However, it must be said that Red Bull should perhaps not have used team orders at all.

In Germany last year, Ferrari caused an uproar amongst fans and rival teams by instructing Felipe Massa to let his team mate Fernando Alonso through. As team orders were outlawed in 2010, Ferrari were fined for bringing the sport into disrepute.
For this season, the team order ban has been dropped, and therefore Red Bull were within their rights to instruct their drivers as they did in Silverstone.

Despite the two Red Bull drivers colliding in spectacular style in the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix, the team insisted that they would not use team orders, and the drivers would be free to race each other for the remainder of the 2010 season.

Horner explained the reasons for this decision: "was it wrong to allow the drivers to race each other? I don't think it was. If we wanted processions we would tell the drivers after the start to hold positions. But that is not what Red Bull is about, and that is not what our beliefs of what grand prix racing should be about."

Red Bull managed to win both the 2010 Drivers and Constructors World Championships in the final race of the 2010 season, despite keeping true to their no team orders promise, and it looking like Alonso would win the title, leading the Championship into the final race.

Red Bull again promised that their drivers would be free to race in 2011, and yet, despite Vettel appearing to have the title already wrapped up, they have chosen to apply the orders at their home Grand Prix, where in 2010 Webber said of his hard fought victory "Not bad for a number two driver".

Read Red Bull's 2010 comments at www.planetf1.com

British Grand Prix - 10 July 2011

The European Grand Prix two weeks ago saw the Formula 1 Results Predictor correctly predict six finishing positions, and our first ever Guest Predictor managed to correctly predict the podium! Surely we weren't going to improve on that this week? Click here to see our results from the last race.

An unusual race took place at Silverstone today. The cars lined up on the bone dry grid, yet on the opposite side of the track, there was lots of standing water. Sauber's Sergio Perez almost became an early casualty of the weather, aquaplaning through a puddle and ending up bouncing through the gravel - and that was only on the warm-up lap!
In light of Perez's adventures, all teams decided to fit their cars with intermediate tyres, which could cope easily with the wet track, but would overheat quickly in the dry.

Due to the typically British weather conditions, the race became quite an exciting affair, particularly in comparison to the last race in Valencia.

Lots of drivers were affected by problems in the pit lane. Sebastian Vettel lost the lead due to a dodgy wheel nut, Jenson Button's race was ended after he didn't receive a wheel nut, and Paul di Resta's race was hampered by his Force India team bringing his team mate's tyres to the pit box instead of his own.

So taking all this into consideration, how did this affect our predictions? Our Guest Predictor for Silverstone was Gary Marshall who runs the Formula 1 blog Marshall GP.

Provisional Race Results:

1. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari - Gary's (GM) Prediction 1st - F1RP Prediction 13th
2. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - GM 2nd - F1RP 2nd
3. Mark Webber - Red Bull - GM 3rd - F1RP 1st
4. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren - GM 4th - F1RP 5th
5. Felipe Massa - Ferrari - GM 20th - F1RP 7th
6. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes - GM 7th - F1RP 4th
7. Sergio Perez - Sauber - GM 14th - F1RP 9th
8. Nick Heidfeld - Renault - GM 21st - F1RP 10th
9. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes - GM 13th - F1RP 12th
10. Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso - GM 15th - F1RP 14th
11. Adrian Sutil - Force India - GM 12th - F1RP 17th
12. Vitaly Petrov - Renault - GM 5th - F1RP 11th
13. Rubens Barrichello - Williams - GM 10th - F1RP 8th
14. Pastor Maldonado - Williams - GM 23rd - F1RP 18th
15. Paul di Resta - Force India - GM 11th - F1RP 16th
16. Timo Glock - Virgin - GM 22nd - F1RP - 21st
17. Jerome D'Ambrosio - Virgin - GM 18th - F1RP 24th
18. Vitantonio Liuzzi - Hispania - GM 17th - F1RP 22nd
19. Daniel Ricciardo - Hispania - GM 19th - F1RP 23rd
DNF Jenson Button - McLaren - GM 6th - F1RP 3rd
DNF Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso - GM 8th - F1RP 15th
DNF Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber - GM 9th - F1RP 6th
DNF Jarno Trulli - Team Lotus - GM 24th - F1RP 19th
DNF Heikki Kovalainen - Team Lotus - GM 16th - F1RP 20th

Many thanks to Gary for being the Guest Predictor this week.

Not as many thanks though for showing the Formula 1 Results Predictor up, and correctly predicting five places, in comparison to our single correct prediction!

Also, once again, our Guest Predictor has managed to correctly predict the podium (well, top four actually) - very impressive!

This week's Top Driver, based on our predictions, goes to Felipe Massa.

For more information on the race, visit www.formula1.com

Visit Gary's website marshallgp.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter @marshallgp

2011 Predictions - Round 9, Britain

This weekend will see the Formula 1 World Championship return to Silverstone. Home Grand Prix to three drivers, and the majority of the teams.

This is the first Grand Prix at the Northamptonshire circuit since the opening of the new paddock complex, and now with the introduction of much talked about rookie Daniel Ricciardo, it will be the first Grand Prix for several decades that two Australian drivers lined up on the grid together.

The European Grand Prix last time out was rather successful for the Formula 1 Results Predictor. We managed to make six correct predictions, and our guest predictor got the podium correct! Read about Valencia here.


This weekend, we are pleased to introduce as guest predictor, popular F1 blogger Gary Marshall.

Gary runs his own blog, Marshall GP, giving his views on all the goings on in the World of Formula 1.

Visit marshallgp.wordpress.com or folow Gary on Twitter @MarshallGP

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Guest Predictions - Round 9, Britain

1. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari
2. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull
3. Mark Webber - Red Bull
4. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren
5. Vitaly Petrov - Renault
6. Jenson Button - McLaren
7. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
8. Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso
9. Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber
10. Rubens Barrichello - Williams
11. Paul di Resta - Force India
12. Adrian Sutil - Force India
13. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes
14. Sergio Perez - Sauber
15. Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso
16. Heikki Kovalainen - Team Lotus
17. Vitantonio Liuzzi - Hispania
18. Jerome D'Ambrosio - Virgin
19. Daniel Ricciardo - Hispania
DNF Felipe Massa - Ferrari
DNF Nick Heidfeld - Renault
DNF Timo Glock - Virgin
DNF Pastor Maldonado - Williams
DNF Jarno Trulli - Team Lotus

Once again, our guest predictor has also tried to predict which drivers will fail to finish! This didn't work out too well at the last race, as all drivers were classified. Surely this can't happen in consecutive races?!

Gary has suggested that a return to form may be on the cards for Fernando Alonso, but it is not expected to be too great a race for the British trio.

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F1RP Prediction - Round 9, Britain

1. Mark Webber - Red Bull
2. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull
3. Jenson Button - McLaren
4. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
5. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren
6. Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber
7. Felipe Massa - Ferrari
8. Rubens Barrichello - Williams
9. Sergio Perez - Sauber
10. Nick Heidfeld - Renault
11. Vitaly Petrov - Renault
12. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes
13. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari
14. Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso
15. Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso
16. Paul di Resta - Force India
17. Adrian Sutil - Force India
18. Pastor Maldonado - Williams
19. Jarno Trulli - Team Lotus
20. Heikki Kovalainen - Team Lotus
21. Timo Glock - Virgin
22. Vitantonio Liuzzi - Hispania
23. Daniel Ricciardo - Hispania
24. Jerome D'Ambrosio - Virgin

Interestingly, the Formula 1 Results Predictor has offered a very different idea of where Alonso may finish. Gary has suggested a race win, whilst the F1RP doesn't think the Spaniard will even score points!
The only matching prediction is second place for reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel.
Both sets of predictions also expect Rubens Barrichello and Kamui Kobayashi to score points on Sunday.

If you would like to attempt to predict the results for the Grand Prix, please use the comments section below!

Blown Diffuser Ban Confirmed

The FIA have confirmed that they still plan to go ahead with the 'off the throttle' blown diffuser design with effect from the British Grand Prix next month.
This is expected to cause issues for the teams who rely heavily on this, particularly the Renault, Red Bull and Mercedes teams, as the engines will need to be remapped.

It is reported that Mercedes have actually lost several engines whilst testing the new requirements, so this may mean that some teams begin to struggle more with reliability issues from Silverstone onwards.

Also confirmed is that with effect from 2012, blown diffusers will be banned outright. It was initially thought that alternative would be that the exhausts would be positioned just over the top of the diffuser at the back of the car, giving a minimal downforce gain. However, it has instead been confirmed that a 'periscope' style exhaust - as used in the sport in the 80's and 90's - will be mandated instead.

This will mean that the teams will need to find alternative ways of creating downforce, as the blown diffuser is credited by many as being the one single design feature which has made the Red Bulls the dominant team that they presently are.

Additionally, an advantage to the fans is that with the new 'periscope' exhausts, spectators should be able to see flames from the exhaust exits which were previously hidden.

For a more detailed explanation of this, visit scarbsf1.wordpress.com