Mercedes drivers told to obey team orders in future

[rjbetty]

IN Mercedes' view it wasn't a team order to change the result to a more favourable one. Lewis was on a two-stopper, ROS on a three-stopper, so all Lewis had to do was to stay within 20 secs of Nico. There had been a clear agreement at Merc - when the cars are on different strategies, they don't interfer with each other, and Lewis broke that agreement and cost ROS unneccessary time.

So you're against what Lewis did? That comes as a huge surprise.
We still need to know why the team didn't fit Hamilton with more soft tyres, costing him unneccessary time...

Yeah it's a tough call whether he did the right thing, but things have been so uneven against Lewis this season, part of me can't blame him. He had to think of his own strategy too.

[rjbetty]

Nico,s problem seemed to be with Charlie bringing the safety car out ,in Nico,s eyes at the wrong time .But Charlie can see all the race on cameras where as Nico only see,s what's happening around him !

Nico has done pretty well with safety cars this year I think. One in Bahrain wiped out Hamilton's 10-sec lead for him, plus the lack of one in Germany helped him as much as it didn't help Lewis.

Maybe the first team order should be for Mercedes to order some more reliability, or a more balanced level of reliability for Lewis compared to his team-mate, then think about orders for Hamilton after that.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Yeah it's a tough call whether he did the right thing, but things have been so uneven against Lewis this season, part of me can't blame him. He had to think of his own strategy too.

No he hasn't. He is an employee of Mercedes. First and foremost he has to serve their interests. Putting his own ambitions over those of the team is a clear breach of contract. If any of my employees put his own ambitions over what I have in mind for the company, he would be gone.

What you can question, is the wisdom of Mercedes even asking something like that - just as my employees have the right to question my motives if I'm obstructing their ambitions, but first they have to carry out what I'm telling them, unless my request is unlawful.

I had the same reflex last year, with Vettel in Malaysia, thinking he was right to disobey. But it was the same case. Vettel disobeying the order was essentially wrong. And it was complete stupidity from RB to ask him to stay put. But he still put his own interests over those of the team and that's essentially wrong.

[henners88]

Well what's done is done, he can't take back what he did and the team can't reverse the silly call. They all messed up and thankfully Lewis got something out of it. I disobey my boss a lot and usually argue my point until we reach an agreement. Drivers disobeying their teams is not new and will continue in future.

If Lewis breached his contract, I'm sure Mercedes breached too for hampering his challenge when I'm sure they promised him a championship when they signed him. Handbags at the end of the day and they need to let these guys race, sod the comfortably placed team in the championship. That's a foregone conclusion.

[dj_bytedisaster]

I disobey my boss a lot and usually argue my point until we reach an agreement. Drivers disobeying their teams is not new and will continue in future.

Then I'm wondering how your boss runs his business. Democracy doesn't really work in a business, as he is the one who carries all the risk and resposibility, so he needs to call the shots. That's what people often misunderstand - The company is MINE and so is the risk. If I muck it up, my employees lose their job and their incomes. So I seriously have no use for employees, who think they know better than me an think they can take risky decisions in contradiction to my orders.
It's not as crass at Merc of course and the teams existence doesn't hinge on Lewis obeying the team's orders. But it certainly will have an impact on the atmosphere. You could see it last year at RB. The relationship between VET and the team was visibly soured for quite some time and a strained relationship to the team is what Lewis needs the least.

[AndyL]

No he hasn't. He is an employee of Mercedes. First and foremost he has to serve their interests. Putting his own ambitions over those of the team is a clear breach of contract. If any of my employees put his own ambitions over what I have in mind for the company, he would be gone.

I think you may have a rather rose-tinted view of your employees. When they have a choice between doing what's best for the company and what's best for their own career, which do you think most people are choosing most of the time?

[Mia 01]

I would not be suprised if, when its time to choose the strategi before a race, Nico will have the call first, all times. It´s only fair, afterall, he is the one obeying orders.

Ohhh, forgot about pitting to.

[AndyL]

No he hasn't. He is an employee of Mercedes. First and foremost he has to serve their interests.

Actually I guess it's pretty easy to see whether this is true or not. Lewis chose his own priorities over those of the team, and has he been sacked? No. So as it turns out, he can do that.

[dj_bytedisaster]

I think you may have a rather rose-tinted view of your employees. When they have a choice between doing what's best for the company and what's best for their own career, which do you think most people are choosing most of the time?

If what they choose is against my orders, they can do what's best for their career somewhere else, as they will be dismissed. It's as simple as that. I do of course try to not order something which I know is against the interests of my employees, but there are situations where it is unavoidable. Which is why Merc have to question themselves why they ordered something without strict necessity that they knew would be against lewis' ambitions. But that doesn't give Lewis' the right to simply disregard anything he doesn't like. What will it be next time? He thinks he's called in too early, stays out, blows a tyre and costs the team valuable points?

[BDunnell]

Then I'm wondering how your boss runs his business. Democracy doesn't really work in a business, as he is the one who carries all the risk and resposibility, so he needs to call the shots. That's what people often misunderstand - The company is MINE and so is the risk. If I muck it up, my employees lose their job and their incomes. So I seriously have no use for employees, who think they know better than me an think they can take risky decisions in contradiction to my orders.

Just the sort of attitude that both makes too many workplaces horrible environments, and leads to companies going down the toilet. Very often the employees know how to do things a hell of a lot better than their bosses — after all, it's been said that the people who become bosses rise to the top precisely because they are expendable in terms of actually doing the work.