The team order dilemma: accused of race-fixing or ridiculed for harming title bid?

F1

Ferrari attracted plenty of criticism for not favouring F1 title contender Charles Leclerc at the British Grand Prix. But the crude use of team orders at a WTCR race that weekend showed the risks of intervening, writes Damien Smith

Blurred Ferrari goes past the Ferrari F1 pitwall

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Team orders. We all hate them, don’t we? Manipulating a race in favour of one driver over another is anathema in what’s still supposed to be a sport. And yet… in terms of the ultimate be-all-and-end-all target in Formula 1, which is of course to win the world championship, the ‘wrong’ Ferrari won the British Grand Prix last weekend.

Charles Leclerc desperately needed this one to kickstart a title fightback, and his team had it in their power to make it so. Twice Ferrari appeared to make a questionable call: once when it dithered when a quicker Leclerc (despite his damaged front wing) called for Carlos Sainz to move aside so he could scamper clear of a looming Lewis Hamilton; then again during the late-race safety car, when Leclerc was kept out on ageing hard-compound Pirellis and Sainz was called in for new softs, because the Spaniard was judged in greater need.

Sainz is only 11 points behind Leclerc in the standings going into the Austrian Grand Prix, thanks to his win and Leclerc’s slump to a grip-less fourth. But let’s not beat about the bush: we all know which is the most potent threat to Max Verstappen’s bid for a second world title. As much as it was heartening to see the hugely popular Sainz become a grand prix winner at Silverstone – a proper feel-good result if ever there was one – Leclerc needs to be the priority if Ferrari expects him to stand any chance of closing down that 43-point gap to Red Bull’s main man (again, with due respect to Sergio Perez, we all know the score on that one too).

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There’s some irony in criticising Ferrari, of all teams, for striving to be fair and proper to its drivers in the still-rippling wake of the team orders controversies that favoured Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso in the distant past. Pity the team principal trying to walk this line: show blatant favouritism and you’re castigated for ‘fixing the sport’; step the other way to offer parity and you’re ridiculed for damaging your own title bid. No one can pretend this one is easy, and no wonder teams tie themselves in knots.

Speaking of which another did exactly that last weekend, a few hours before the British GP, far away from Silverstone. This team orders farrago was in the World Touring Car Cup, at the picturesque Vila Real street track in Portugal – and it was a corker.

The Swedish Cyan Racing team have been top dog in the WTCR these past couple of years with its oddly-named squad of Lynk & Co, the Chinese brand owned by Geely. Yann Ehrlacher, talented nephew of team-mate Yvan Muller, has won the title for the past two years and has been a clear and obvious focus of the team’s efforts. But recently his status has been threatened by the rising (and very rapid) Uruguayan Santi Urrutia. There’s little between them in the points as they chase the BRC Squadra Corse Hyundai of points leader Mikel Azcona, as a new generation of tin-toppers take the spotlight.

Urrutia crashes over a kerb following Uttia at the 2022 Vila Real WTCR round

Ehrlacher raced his way into the lead — until team orders intervened

WTCR

In Vila Real, Urrutia took pole position with Ehrlacher alongside him. Before the race, WTCR’s regular TV interviewer Alexandra Legouix asked Urrutia a direct question about whether they had discussed a plan for the race. The answer was vague, but we were told there was at least a “strategy” between the pair.

So the race started. Urrutia led Ehrlacher, but then chose an early strategy on driving through the ‘joker loop’, a rallycross-inspired gimmick the series only uses in Vila Real because it’s so hard to overtake around what is otherwise a great track. In free air, Ehrlacher pushed, then took his own joker and emerged, on merit, with the lead. Then came the surprise radio call: he was ordered by the pitwall to hand the lead back to Urrutia.

Naturally, he took his time about it, but eventually the double champion eased off and let the four-time race winner past so that he could score his fifth. At the finish Urrutia celebrated as if his win was genuine, then went over to shake his team-mate’s hand. Ehrlacher did accept the gesture, but his eyes remained fixed on something in the distance. He refused to even look at the winner, his fury barely contained. Then intrepid Legouix stepped up for the post-race interviews.

Urrutia played a straight bat – again without actually giving a straight answer: “Yann and I had the pace and we were controlling the race. I said before there was a strategy to follow, there were really good points as well for the teams’ championship and for the drivers’ championship and it worked out really well. Thank you to Cyan, thank you to Yann. We did the job, we finished as we started, P1 and P2, so I’m very happy for the team.”

Santi Urrutia celebrates WTCR victory at Vila Real

Urrutia didn’t hold back on his celebrations

WTCR

The trouble was Ehrlacher contradicted his team-mate… “It was not really clear, to be honest,” he said of the ‘strategy’. “For sure, the principle order was not to crash at Turn 1, as we’ve seen before. But the scenario was not planned, I had good pace, I went for proper racing. Then I got the order. You have to behave as a pro, you just need to accept it.

“It’s a shame to lose a victory like this, but I’m really happy for the points Cyan have scored because that is the most important thing before anything else, even the drivers’ championship. I just hope it helps put one blue car, whichever one it is, at the top of the standings at the end of the year.”

He’d just about kept to the Cyan mantra: the team comes first. But clearly it had been a struggle. In the official press conference that followed it appeared someone had spoken to Ehrlacher, because he was careful not to repeat his claim that team orders had been news to him. But boy, the tension… Legouix challenged them, and their refusal to budge an inch on what had happened became cringe-inducing. They both kept to the script about the team coming first, as if they really weren’t selfish drivers who only care about their own success… and it just became comical. “For sure it’s painful, I will not hide it,” admitted Ehrlacher. “It’s the way it is. At the end we are P1 and P2. The order is something to discuss, but the interests of Cyan was the priority today.”

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Urrutia said he didn’t see “a problem”. No, I bet he didn’t… He also suggested we ask Cyan, not the drivers. So we did: first, would the team be willing to divulge what the agreed strategy was before the start between Urrutia and Ehrlacher? Second, will the pair be free to race for the title from this point on, or will one be favoured over the other?

The response? “The team does not want to comment on past or future strategies. Sorry.”

So instead of marvelling at a perfect performance, Cyan engineered a nonsense team orders narrative out of a weekend of domination – and made themselves look silly in the process. They’re not the first racing team to lose perspective and forget there are actual people watching – including a big and enthusiastic local crowd who deserved better. But we can’t help wondering: what did Cyan’s Chinese paymasters make of it all?

We’re also left speculating: was there something contractual at play, in Urrutia’s favour? Is Ehrlacher no longer Cyan’s ‘blessed one,’ as he has been for the past two years? If not, why not? Might he be on the move for 2023, which means the team won’t support his bid for a WTCR hat-trick? And where does it leave Muller? His main reason for racing on, at 52, has been to mentor his beloved nephew. If Ehrlacher is on the move, could this be the end of the road for the four-time World Touring Car Champion?

Whatever, it certainly gives an added edge to the second half of the season. Azcona’s lead is only 16 points over Urrutia, with Ehrlacher a further six back. Both Lynk & Co drivers have a tendency towards petulance and judging by what we saw in Vila Real, there’ll be no love lost now. This could get tasty. Azcona, BRC and Hyundai must be rubbing their hands.

By comparison, Mattia Binotto’s mismanagement of Ferrari looks a little mild. The next WTCR round takes place at Vallelunga on July 23/24. Might be worth tuning in.