Merc set for team-orders?

It was the news no-one in Formula One wanted to hear, Mercedes will consider using team-orders during 2015.

2014 was a breath of fresh air for Formula One in regards to team-orders.

Red Bull Racing had previously been criticised for their use of team-orders, leading to the controversy of ‘multi 21’, when Sebastian Vettel ignored team-orders and raced then team-mate Mark Webber stealing the victory.

For years prior to that we had the domination of Ferrari, with a whole team seemingly working in tandem for just one driver Michael Schumacher and this was sometimes present during Fernando Alonso’s spell.

But last year Mercedes opted to let their drivers go toe-to-toe throughout the entire season.

The teams dominance meant that both the drivers and constructors titles would be theirs with little interference, so their drivers were given the green light to race.

The Hamilton/Rosberg rivalry had its moments of drama especially in Monaco and Belgium but ultimately it worked for the benefit of Formula One and Mercedes.

But this could all be set to change with the challenge of Ferrari.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has said that the team may make team-orders when it benefits Mercedes.

‘Our main objective is to be number one. This is what we decided. We have big a responsibility to the team and a big brand,? he told Sky Sports.

‘It is not just the two guys out there but about a thousand people working on these cars. If it ever comes to a point of interfering between the two of them because we risk to lose a race win, we would do that. We do not have the gap any more from last year where we can just let them push each over until the very end. We need to manage the gaps between the two of them.

‘It could have come to a point on Sunday where we could have been very firm on the radio saying this is what needs to be done in order not to risk the race result. It could come to a situation where we risk losing the win to a Ferrari when we might have to do an unpopular call and manage them more.’

He added: ?[Last year] we had a bit of a margin, but this year it seems that Ferrari have caught up and if we need to split the strategy in order to secure a race win then we will do that,?