Mercedes drivers told to obey team orders in future

[BDunnell]

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?

He was right on this occasion; the team was wrong. There need be no sanction. Let the drivers get on with driving. That's what they're extremely well paid to do.

[BDunnell]

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?

Exactly.

[driveace]

Hello BD ,have you been away for a while ?
Nice to see you back .
Let's get this straight ,Lewis was told to let Nico past ,Nico could not get near enough,or fast enough to pass without Lewis slowing by 2 seconds a lap ! He was only a short distance behind Fernando ,and probably have passed him ,had he not been sidetracked by the message from Paddy !Merc then issued NO team orders to Lewis after Nico came out with new tyres? If they were that bothered about Nico catching both Dan and Nando ,and probably passing them ,then why no team orders then ? They realized the mistake of asking Lewis to slow earlier

[henners88]

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.

Well I'm pretty good at my job and my boss wings it most of the time. I'm an industrial designer and he's a mechanical engineer by trade so he's good at the workings if our projects but not the aesthetics. We often clash and swear at each other but ultimately we know that we each know better in our fields. My boss doesn't run our department, the employees do and he gets the credit and the flack in equal measure. It works. At the end of the day as an employee I am out for myself, nobody else. We work as a team for success, but this has a largely selfish motive too, to get more money.

I'm not too worried about Hamilton's relationship long term. If he wins the WDC and then moves to another team, I won't be losing sleep over it.

[Mia 01]

Most people don´t disobey orders from their boss/company and moore so, not in front of a very big TV audience and get away with it scot free. Add to that that the audience knows that you are doing it for your own only and are payd zillions from the team on top of that.

[jens]

Nice discussion.

As with everything, a lot depends on situation, but also on personalities and how open they are. One of the most strict examples is army - there you have to obey, because if you started democratically debating about decisions, you'll lose the war, while others are attacking. So you have to follow orders regardless of how good or bad they are.

In businesses it is more open and it is in the interest of the business if the owner is able to use as much wisdom of his employees for the good of company as possible. So discussing about things can be good for universal well-being. Obviously there are some nuances of leadership (especially if it is a big company), of which the employees aren't and can not be experts at, so these decisions have to be made by the employer. And there can be some unique and critical situations, which demand quick decision-making, for which you also don't have time to have a democratic discussion.

[Bagwan]

He was right on this occasion; the team was wrong. There need be no sanction. Let the drivers get on with driving. That's what they're extremely well paid to do.

That's right , let them get on with the driving , but leave the decisions on strategy to the team .

They didn't ask him if he was destroying his tires, but they warned that he would if he kept racing Nico .

They could see a one, two , instead of a three, four , and didn't care which driver was ahead .

[Bagwan]

Nice discussion.

As with everything, a lot depends on situation, but also on personalities and how open they are. One of the most strict examples is army - there you have to obey, because if you started democratically debating about decisions, you'll lose the war, while others are attacking. So you have to follow orders regardless of how good or bad they are.

In businesses it is more open and it is in the interest of the business if the owner is able to use as much wisdom of his employees for the good of company as possible. So discussing about things can be good for universal well-being. Obviously there are some nuances of leadership (especially if it is a big company), of which the employees aren't and can not be experts at, so these decisions have to be made by the employer. And there can be some unique and critical situations, which demand quick decision-making, for which you also don't have time to have a democratic discussion.

F1 is war , and Merc have won some battles , but not the war , at least not yet .

[dj_bytedisaster]

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.

Sorry mate, but socialism doesn't work. I must know, I was born in East Germany. I own a company, if it goes bust I am to blame, so I call the shots. I do value the input of my employees, but if they think they can disregard me and just do their own thing without risk, because the risk is mine. They're gone. period.

[dj_bytedisaster]

F1 is war , and Merc have won some battles , but not the war , at least not yet .

Unless you've ever been in a warzone, don't use that word. F1 is a playground for rich kids with a strange sense of entitlement. War is where people get killed. Don't be ridiculous.