Actually, if a team order changes a ranking, and it can be proved, then the team is automatically issued a fine. Just because the team orders happen, does not actually mean that they're _allowed_ to happen. The fines are generally in the order of $100k-$250k.
Team orders have been banned in F1 since 2008 [0]:
> 152. Team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited.
There's a reason that Smedley's quote is infamous:
> Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand that message?
[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20081206120227/https://paddockta...
This statement is misleading, as it gives the appearance that this ban is still in effect. However, the ban was repealed at the end of 2010 season. [0]
> This statement is misleading, as it gives the appearance that this ban is still in effect.
Not quite. The statement is false, because it states outright that the ban is still in effect.
Seems like the budget for a F1 team is around 140 million Euro/year. Not sure these fines make anybody feel uncomfortable.
[1] It was quite some time ago, but I'm still pissed
One hell of a way to disgust millions of people immediately, and as you can see here and elsewhere, they will easily hold the grudge for decades. Its just a plain idiotic move to be polite. Nobody is cheering for ie team Williams, everybody is cheering for their favorite driver.
Your attempt to normalize it is so surreal. Do you also like other, proper team sports like football or hockey for all the behind the scenes politics, or actually for the sport itself?
F1 is just fundamentally a team sport, and hardly any of the teamwork generates any level of controversy at all. Even the (very uncommon) controversial cases of a driver being ordered to give up a race win are only a big deal to a certain segment of fans. Typically the deluded ones who think Bottas was better than Hamilton, or Webber was better than Vettel, or Barrichello was better than Schumi, and that all of those drivers would have championships if it weren’t for team orders.
We know it's a team sport but the star of the show is usually just one guy. Even though they often praise the team and everyone back in the factory, the glory is always directed at the drivers. And in most cases, one particular driver. The star.
Clearly the second drivers have to deal with a lot of shit... that is specified in their contracts
