Was Lewis passing Heikki legal?

[mstillhere]

I think everyone noticed how Heikki moved over and let Lewis get by fairly easily. I also noticed how NOBODY was horrified and did not screem bloody murder about this episod. I mean, we all know that that was team order. Heikki was told to move over and let Lewis get by and he did. The media has not said anything about it. And yes there was an embarassing silence when the commentators saw that taking place and then conveniently said nothing. Are you McLaren fans really at peace with yourselves and with your hypocritical interest in F1?

[Zico]

Yes it was illegal and obvious but unprovable.. and as a fan of Formula 1 as a whole rather than any particular team.. I personally dont have a problem with it. He was far quicker than Heikki, would have got past him at some point and so it was in the best interests of the team to perhaps hint that it should happen sooner rather than later and leave it up to Heikki to do what he thought best.

As a team manager would you risk them both wiping out in the process... or if and when he did get past, have reduced his chances of catching both Massa and Piquet?

Also... perhaps not as blatantly.. but do you seriously believe that Ferrari would never/ have never do/done the same in an identical/similar situation?

[Valve Bounce]

It was illegal and he has been given a ticket for speeding.

[Nikki Katz]

The problem with team orders was more when Ferrari were the only team that had a chance of winning a race, and they still decided that Barrichello's wins should be gifted to Schumacher, apart from that race where they tried to organise a dead heat, which backfired a bit.
There was nothing wrong with what McLaren did as Kovalainen was much much slower (incidentally, why was that? I think people were a little too hard on Massa yesterday) and was allowing his teammate a better chance to win, which he did while Heikki could only finish 5th.
I think that at this stage of the season if Kovalainen was going to win and he let Hamilton past then that might be a bit different though. But I doubt that would happen.

[Tomi]

Kovalainen was quite pissed about the teamorder right after the race, he said something like, "I have nothing to comment, because they did not let me race"

[AJP]

I too was very surprised when I watched the footage, the commentators where completely silent. I certainly had thoughts that McLaren could get themselves into trouble if they do this.

[yodasarmpit]

Was Lewis's passing of Massa legal?

I think everyone noticed how Massa moved over and let Lewis get by fairly easily. I also noticed how NOBODY was horrified and did not screem bloody murder about this episod.

[schmenke]

Well this thread was inevitable...

[cosmicpanda]

I seem to remember either James Allen or Martin Brundle pointing out that Ron Dennis was seen communicating with someone on the pit wall, and then Lewis passed Heikki. They weren't silent.

[wedge]

Remember that in Canada and Turkey 2005, Alonso asked the team for Fisi to move over because he was quicker. NB Canada is before German GP.

Lewis was the quicker the driver so it was right decision. That's where team orders are acceptable.

When team orders are regarded as immoral and unfair is when Jean Todt ordered Rubens to pull over for Michael when Ruben blatantly the quicker driver in Austria 2001 and '02 and deserved the victory with barely a few races into the championship.

Team orders are perfectly acceptable in motorsport but it takes the audaciousness of Ferrari to make a mockery of it all and spoil it for the rest and now team orders is now regarded as a negative.

The whole team orders is illegal thing is just an excuse to throw the book at someone if we have repeat of Austria. When, since 2003, has a team been penalised for team orders?