Mercedes team orders were strange says Horner

Everyone involved in Formula One, or just an interested spectator had a view on the Mercedes team orders in Hungary.

But one of the most qualified people to comment on the situation, other than the team and drivers themselves has to be Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

He of course has gone through it all before as team boss of a dominant Formula One team.

He has handed out team orders to his drivers to secure the best result for the team, only for one of his drivers to ignore the request.

The most obvious instance of this was the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2013, the infamous multi-21 call which meant that car number 2, Mark Webber was suppose to remain in front of car number 1, Sebastian Vettel.

Despite it being early in the season, at a time when the Formula One Drivers World Championship picture had yet to develop, Vettel ignored team orders and stole the victory from his team-mate.

The major difference between that scenario and the Hungarian Grand Prix was the sheer dominance of Mercedes in 2014.

You could argue that Mercedes’ best chance of winning the race was to allow Nico Rosberg to maximise his strategy, but in the eleventh round of a nineteen race season the bigger picture has to be the drivers and constructors championships.

‘Inevitably it is very difficult, because you have the objective of the team and the objectives of the drivers, The interesting thing at Mercedes this year is that because they have such an advantage [over the other teams] they have let their drivers race, and they are not under threat in the constructors’ championship. Horner told Autosport Magazine.

Mercedes have almost reached the 400-point mark in the constructors championship and hold a 174-point lead over Horner’s Red Bull Racing team.

However the drivers championship is wide open, with the Hungarian result closing the gap between Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton to just 11 points.

‘You can understand Lewis. He is fighting Nico and if he lets him run his fastest strategy, it puts himself under pressure.

‘So it is entirely understandable from Lewis’ point of view to say ‘not today thanks’.’

‘They have let the guys race openly this year, so it is strange when they are racing again to let one run their fastest strategy,’ Horner concluded.