On the Marbles: Teammate battles
July 26th 2007 06:21
Teammate Battles
Speak to any driver and they will tell you they are only part of a team, a team that encompasses mechanics, designers, aerodynamicists, strategists…even the team caterer will insist they are as important as any other.
So given this, it appears Formula One has the strangely contradictive quality of being the only team sport that forbids cooperation between team-mates.
However, thanks to the FIA’s habitual knee-jerk reflex to rule making, the sport cannot seriously count its competitors as part of a team, when any on-track team collaboration is technically illegal.
The outlawing of such actions was, of course, a reaction to the most poignant memory of Austria in 2002, where Ferrari number two, Rubens Barrichello infamously surrendered his race-long lead to Ferrari number one, Michael Schumacher on the very last corner.
That was a unanimously detested moment in F1 history, but it revealed more about people’s frustration at Ferrari and Schumacher’s dominance, than it did any concern of ‘bringing the sport into disrepute’.
Team orders are woven into the fabric of motor racing, and Grand Prix racing has experienced countless examples of number two looking out for number one.
In 1956, Peter Collins gave up his car to teammate Juan Manuel Fangio in order to allow the Argentinean finish and reclaim the World Championship.
In the final race of 1964, John Surtees became champion when Lorenzo Bandini let him pass in order to prevent Graham Hill from taking the crown.
And of course in 1998, David Coulthard handed his Australian GP win to teammate Mika Hakkinen when the two were together at McLaren.
The most recent example that provoked interest was this year’s Monaco Grand Prix, when McLaren’s one-two finish was looked at regarding the ‘team order’ rules.
Now this topic has been done to death, so lets venture down another avenue of ‘team’ dynamics.
What was most interesting about the Monaco incident was not the fact that Lewis was denied the chance to challenge or pass Fernando, but the apparent rage that was sparked by the call from the pit wall.
Lewis was fuming as he helplessly fell in line behind his teammate, and given the frustrated displeasure displayed by Alonso when he toiled away in Lewis’s dirty air at the US Grand Prix, the feeling is mutual.
With article 151c packed away once again for another rainy day, the media attention turned to the rift that was beginning to develop between Ron Dennis’ boys, and by the British Grand Prix, the split was visibly gaping.
McLaren have been in denial mode since Monaco, refusing to believe that there is any tension between their two chargers, however, one only needed to watch the recent rain-affected German Grand Prix to witness the relationship dynamics at camp McLaren.
You could see in the sheer intensity of Fernando Alonso’s post race celebration at the Nurburgring, that after the arduous, two-hour slog in the tumultuous conditions, the sweetest part of the victory was that his teammate had a terrible afternoon and scored zero points.
This is Senna versus Prost 1989. It’s Mansell against Piquet 1986, It’s Hulme vs. Brabham 1965. It’s vintage grand prix racing.
Alonso now trails Hamilton by a mere two points, and with the wind in his sails, the Spaniard’s title hopes are back on track.
Hamilton meanwhile, suffered his first taste of what many drivers would call a “bad weekend”, and how he responds to that will be telling.
Further down the grid we see BMW’s boys barging and bashing eachother as they fight alone every weekened,
Even Jenson Button ‘s frustration with Honda can be partly traced to the fact that his teammate, Rubens Barrichello is doing a just little bit better.
So is it right to define F1 as a team sport?
The drivers say so, but if nothing else the sole objective at every race weekend is to beat the man who occupies the same garage, no matter what is at stake.
So does that make it an individual sport?
Yes and no.
Every driver will stress the importance of everyone else in the team, everyone there is part of a team effort.
Everyone, that is, except their teammate.
He is the enemy.
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