Morgan Murphy7 said:That's exactly how PAto works!
If you ask me, these bans are completely pointless.
If everything had been played fair back in 2007, Kimi Räikkönen would never have been champion because he wouldn't have had to yield to Felipe Massa.
Of course the team is going to order someone to let another pass when even a fool can see that 25 points are far more vital for Alonso than for Massa, given that the latter still has a shot at the title.
How many posts did you guys manage to pump out while I was busy making my way through the Metro? 🙂 😁
Anyway, I agree that banning team orders is a complete joke. That rule is basically just dead ink on paper at this point. Nobody actually enforces it, nobody can realistically enforce it, nobody actually wants to enforce it, and I doubt anyone here is under any illusions about how that works. 😁 So why the sudden shock today, then? 😁 What have you guys seen lately?
Does it bother anyone else that there was just so much going on? I guess I'm wondering if it felt a bit overwhelming to everyone else too.
Obviously.Yeah, I agree. It looks ridiculous, honestly. It’s just embarrassing to watch the drivers being forced to act like idiots for no reason.
Everyone involved—including us—is well aware that team orders and strategic decisions aren't going anywhere. They exist in every single garage on the grid. It's common knowledge that in Formula 1, the team's overall interest takes precedence over any individual driver's ego. Personally, I think that’s actually quite reasonable given the circumstances, and it’s honestly how things have to work if you want to win.
It’s pretty obvious that within McLaren (and even outside of it), Lewis is treated as the clear number one driver. Even though he's technically officially labeled as number two—
The current world champion.😲 Even though he definitely still has a shot at the title. 😉 Lewis might have that slight edge in raw pace, but if you ask me, Button makes up for it with other qualities. Honestly, though, if we’re being real about it, the biggest injustice here has to be at McLaren. I guess if anyone deserved to be number two more than anyone else on the grid, it probably wasn't Button.
When you look at the numbers, Massa was clearly outclassed by Alonso. There’s really no debate about who the more complete driver is when you weigh everything up. Honestly, given the massive gap in points between them, I guess Ferrari's move was pretty much the only logical step left. The reasons behind it are obvious and have been discussed to death already.
Someone mentioned that this isn't quite the same situation as when Kimi took his title, arguing that back then it came down to the final race and whether he could clinch it or not. I guess it’s not all that different here, though. Massa doesn't really have a realistic shot at the championship anymore, whereas Fernando still has a path if everything aligns perfectly—assuming he drives flawlessly and gets a decent bit of luck on top of it. From where I'm sitting, Ferrari was facing a real dilemma today: they could either play this hand and stay in the hunt for the title, or just throw in the towel entirely. And apparently, this is all because of some supposed "moral code" regarding avoiding team orders? We all know those exist; honestly, teams don't even try that hard to hide them, let alone anyone else.
In my opinion, the only way Ferrari actually messed this up was by ignoring what everyone else is doing—something we all know for a fact is working.
Everyone’s getting to work. He didn't exactly make it "less obvious." I guess it’s a massive blunder once you actually take a closer look. wow. 😁It’s pretty obvious Ferrari knows the Formula 1 fanbase isn't stupid, so there's really no point trying to insult our intelligence
by hiding or using some nonsensical camouflage for things everyone already knows are happening. 😁 It's standard practice for basically every team on the grid.
I agree this was laughably transparent, but it just proves how unenforceable this ban is—given how much people use coded language anyway—and how ridiculous it is. They should just scrap it.
Now, if we want to talk about the moral side of things, which seems to be what everyone here loves to lecture one another about, then from a purely ethical standpoint, it makes zero difference whether something "immoral" is done overtly or subtly. 😁
It doesn't make an act any less immoral if, for instance, Kimi wins a title because of
the exact same reasons, it just happens that Kimi is everyone's favorite, so we all happily cheer him on. Meanwhile, if Alonso does it, it's suddenly seen as more immoral simply because he's the easiest target for people to hate. 😁