When Champions Get Their Due!

It’s a cold and chilly evening at the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille, France. The French team, having gone down 1-2 the previous night, nominate veteran Richard Gasquet as their messiah for the third singles rubber. Some consider it France’s desperate attempt to stay in the competition by handing the wheel to the most experienced driver. Others see it as an act of tactical brilliance adding to the meticulously chosen clay court in order to foil the opposition’s plans of celebrating their first ever Davis Cup title.

At the other end, the hopes of a whole nation are resting on the one man they believe is habile enough to gift them what they deserve. Some fans have travelled close to 700 kilometers to watch him create history. Others are natives who can’t help but cheer for him considering the aura he exuberates. At a moment when a country stands on the verge of being ‘crowned’ into an empire, who better to steer the ship than the man with the most majestic persona. Roger Federer! Could there be anyone else?

Switzerland are in the final after 22 years and who knows when’s the next going to come. It’s already been decided that the match will go down in history despite the outcome, but for Federer it is just another match. It is just another obstacle. Non-playing skipper Severin Luthi, as cold as the wintry winds outside, gets his team in a huddle. They might be from a country with 8 million people, but right now it’s just that one person who matters. They leave him to it. Fingers crossed. “Time,” the chair umpire says!

At almost around the same time, some 6700 kilometers away, the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi is ‘marinating’ to host a desert duel that has the makings of an absolute classic. Lewis Hamilton, sitting in his polished and unrivalled Mercedes, is thinking about the penultimate corner of the race track that literally derailed his pole position contention the previous evening. Failing to win the title would hand the Brit the unwanted record of becoming the first driver to win four races in a row and not win the title.

His teammate, title-rival and pole-sitter Nico Rosberg, meanwhile, is venerating F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone for introducing the double-points concept that gives the German a fighting chance to steal the title from Hamilton’s grasps despite winning just 5 races in the season. There are a gazillion permutations and combinations that could decide the title, but all Nico is thinking is to lead the race from start till finish and hope Lewis squanders second. Either that or he’s hoping for Lewis to crash.

The universe, on the other hand, seems to be in Hamilton’s corner. For the last two years Abu Dhabi has witnessed rain on November 23. But not today! Not when a personage like Lewis is in title contention. Not when the United Kingdom has eyes on its ‘favorite’ son. Not when Prince Harry is in attendance.

Oh! The audacity if it rains! The track is cleared off. All support staff, friends and family make their way to the paddock. The cars line up after the formation lap. Nico looks back at Lewis. As if to say, “It’s been one helluva ride mate.” Lewis looks at him and then up towards the sky. The instinctive devil in him says “All right, bring on the rain.” The conscientious pilot says “Let’s keep it simple, shall we?” The engines roar. The drivers wait for the five lights. One! Two! Three! Four! Five! And it’s “Lights out in Abu Dhabi!”

Meanwhile, Gasquet, who’s 2-2 head-to-head record against Federer on clay was probably the biggest catalyst for him being nominated ahead of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils, seems to be digging deep to stay alive in the first set. Federer’s all over him and in no time has taken a 3-2 lead that too on a surface that has been baptized as ‘legend killer’. Gasquet calls for his towel. The ball girl stares into his eyes as if to say “It’s not your fault. You’re just up against a freight train.” Richard Gasquet says nothing!

The Frenchman walks over slowly to his side of the court. His racquet dragging behind him as if to manifest an image of an old man being tormented on a football field by bunch of expeditious ruffians. At 28 years of age, he’s neither the oldest nor the fastest on the court. Both of those titles belong to Roger tonight. Back that up with some immaculate volley angles and some gravity-defying drops shots and somewhere in Spain Uncle Toni, with his dropped jaw, tells Rafa to start practicing for Roland Garros.

Federer to serve! His “Pirlo-esque” approach to the game is what makes him, at 33, a man possessed to set the records straight. He looks up once. Looks back down. Throws the ball in the air and Boom! Ace! 15-0! Gasquet can’t believe it. The comprehensive master plan of using clay as a surface to stave off the Swiss Maestro has been effectuated. But why is it not effective tonight? No time to think. Federer looks up again then back to the ball. Just one look is enough. Boom! Ace No. 2! 30-0! Two more times & 4-2 it is.

Back in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton has done just what was expected off him. As the cars head into the first corner, the 2008 world champion’s adept driving helps him vroom past Rosberg in no time to take the lead. There’s a reason why Lewis deserves the title this year and he’s just showed a glimpse of that. Probably the only driver on the circuit today who’s conjured the amalgamation of speed and braking to serene brilliance. His theory is simple – “master the speed, brake late on turns and kill those chicanes.”

Lewis lost the title in his ‘rookie’ season by a single point to Kimi Raikkonen due to technical snags in the last race. He won it a year later though by maneuvering a tranquil overtake on the last turn of the last lap of the last race outstripping Felipe Massa. Both Massa and Kimi are racing in Abu Dhabi tonight. But none can curb the prowess that Hamilton has. The Brit takes a 1.2 second lead on Rosberg after the first lap. Make that 2.7 seconds as he heads into his first pit stop 10 laps later. This one might be over soon!

Toto Wolff, Executive Director of Mercedes, looks at his screen under the setting sun and just can’t help believe what has happened. “Will people put this event to another conspiracy theory?” he thinks. Not so Mr. Wolff. Not this time. Maybe if Nico had tried to back Lewis into the Williams of Bottas and Massa. But the world saw what happened. The world knows Lewis, who’s used lesser fuel that Nico and has preserved his tyres better, deserves the championship and therefore no one is going to question you.

In the meantime, Federer is unveiling one of his greatest performances on clay. Like an opera singer enthralling the audience amidst the unruffled moonlight, Roger too is giving the Lille crowd a night to remember with staggering virtuosity. The 17-time Grand Slam champion wraps up the second set in spanking fashion and a historic title seems inevitable. But wait a minute. Can Gasquet come back in this one? Can France still win? All he needs to do is win the next three sets. Nah! Not tonight! Not any night!

Rosberg has better chance of winning the title though. He’s on fire with two successive fastest laps and, in stunning chain of events, is reducing the gap on Hamilton. Fox Sports commentator Alex Yoong has just been interrupted by a Mercedes team radio message. Who’s it for? Rosberg, of course! “All right Nico, you need to conserve your rear brakes. Too much pressure on the energy unit.” “What? Conserve energy?” Nico thinks. No way. Not when the race of his life is on. And then suddenly, disaster strikes!

Elsewhere Gasquet is praying to the heavens above to end his affliction. He’s splitting into pieces as Federer, who’s moving around the court like a gazelle, is taking the whole of France to the cleaners with his sumptuous play. He’s a game away from possessing the extraordinary feat of winning all the Grand Slams and the Davis Cup. Laver, Agassi, Nadal and now Federer! A league of extraordinary gentlemen indeed! “Time to finish this,” Federer tells himself. 15-0! 30-0! 40-0! Three championship points! Death serving at its best!

“I’m losing engine power!” exclaims Nico Rosberg in the interim. Guess pushing too hard has not worked in the German’s favour. The gap between him and Hamilton is now 7.1 seconds. “Nico, your ERS has failed,” comes the reply from his team. "Can you investigate that now, please? And then tell me what to do,” domineers Rosberg. His team is all but helpful. “It’s not a computer that can be restarted,” they think. Rosberg looks to his right and sees Massa pass by. Then Bottas! Then Ricciardo! It’s over for him!

Federer serves out the match and falls to his knees on the orange surface in similar manner he did at the 2009 French Open. Tears roll down his cheeks. It was special back then and it is equally special tonight. Back then he had equaled Pete Sampras’ “inviolable” record of 14 Grand Slams. Tonight he completes his trophy cabinet for every tennis title possible. He looks over to his wife Mirka in the stands and then to Stanislas Wawrinka in the corner. The feud a few weeks ago seems futile now. History has been made! Switzerland are the 2014 Davis Cup champions. Time for the fireworks! Time for the confetti!

Hamilton, on the other hand, starts the final lap of the 2014 Formula 1 season with a 3.3 second gap over second-placed Felipe Massa. His title is indubitable now. He’s on the verge of becoming only fourth Briton after Sir Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill and Jim Clark to win two world titles. “Where’s Nico?” asks the commentator. “Down at 14th!” comes the reply. One can’t help but feel sad for Rosberg. So close yet so far. But that is how life goes. Alain Prost lost the title to Niki Lauda by half a point in 1984. Hamilton crosses the chequered flag for his 11th season win. But it’s the one that matters the most!

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. An apt phrase to describe the events in Abu Dhabi and Lille on the evening of November 23, 2014. Not only have Roger Federer and Lewis Hamilton gone through adverse circumstances in their careers, but both have also had to withstand the test of time and fend off critics. When they were at their lowest lows in life, the only thing that kept them going was the passion of the sport, the limitless talent they possess and the determination to take what’s theirs.

One might be going through the toughest of phases and there might be times when the light at the end of the tunnel might just be a mirage. At the end of day, however, persistence pays off because no one can stop champions getting their due. “Cometh the hour, cometh the man.” Well said Gladwin, well said!

When Coincidence Meets Controversy!

At a time when the whole world is struggling to come to terms with the fact that Roger Federer lost to Marin Cilic in straight sets at the US Open semifinal, I don’t know what is more distressing - the advertisement of that ludicrous Akshay Kumar show Dare 2 Dance or the fact that my channel is still airing a show called ‘Motorsports & Petronas’ that shows Mercedes teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton chatting around having gala time and playing like kids with remote-controlled racecars.

Agreed that the show was shot before the Belgian Grand Prix with an aim to target the lighter side of Formula 1, but it’s just downright disturbing to see two drivers faking out a friendship. Let’s not get things wrong, they were good friends in the past. But the key word to note in that previous sentence is ‘were’. The same is no longer true now and as a preacher since times immemorial of the certitude that F1 is not a team sport, I would like to take this opportunity to shout out loud and say “Ha! Told Ya So!”

The timeline, if one was to draft such a thing, of the rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg clearly can be depicted with a downward slope graph on an x-y axis with the horizontal line representing “time” and the vertical line representing “trust”. And as an ardent Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen fan I should be jubilant to see such a graph for a rival team. But unfortunately am not. Maybe it’s because I have developed a slight liking for Mercedes (Not because of their car; but because they finally broke Sebastian Vettel’s championship winning streak and halted Red Bull’s ridiculously boring dominance).

It all started at the Bahrain Grand Prix when a riveting duel saw Rosberg, though being on pole position, squander the summit to an over-aggressive and "out-of-line" Hamilton who piloted his Mercedes home with sheer brilliance and notch up his second win of the season.

Next up was Monaco where defending champion Rosberg brought Hamilton's 4-race winning streak to an end. Nothing wrong in that I suppose. Of course that is only if one is willing to naively overlook the Qualification botch where the German "conveniently" went off a corner in Q3 with less than 10 seconds left to force a yellow flag and disallow Hamilton's (who was faster till that point) time.

The Canadian Grand Prix saw both drivers, who despite being sternly warned by team officials, push each other to such an extent that Hamilton was forced to retire due to overheating brakes and Rosberg eventually ended up frittering the lead to Daniel Ricciardo as his Mercedes "ran out" of power.

The Hungarian Grand Prix, where Hamilton defied team orders and did not let Rosberg pass ahead, forced Mercedes to come out and announce that they’ll let both drivers loose for them to carry on with their ‘impending’ battle. Good job! Only the move came a Grand Prix too late guys.

The Belgian Grand Prix, where ‘point-proving’ Rosberg felt that sabotaging Hamilton was probably the best way to be taken seriously as a driver, forced the silver arrows to condemn the Monaco-born German driver and in an unprecedented move declare that a punishment was in order.

And finally the Italian Grand Prix, where Rosberg expediently overshot the same chicane twice (once in practice and once during the race) in order for Hamilton to snatch victory, made the team say it out loud that both drivers were in fact ‘like enemies’. Throw in an evil laugh there and we have a melodrama folks!

Okay! Am I the only one who on joining all the dots gets a rat?

Clearly this rivalry has now reached all together a whole different level, which is something that no one in the fraternity anticipated at the start. In a sport where, conventionally speaking, drivers in a team should be trusting each other blindly, the Mercedes duo are now in a position where they’ll have to double check their backs even in an 1-2 situation. I guess it was just a matter of time when deliberately driving into teammates at speeds in excess of 300 kilometers an hour for revenge would strategically be part of the package.

To top it all off, Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff recently went on record to state that it would have been next to impossible to execute the events of Monza deliberately suggesting that the claims of a conspiracy theory being in place to recompense Rosberg for Spa were completely baseless.

All right! Fair enough. But riddle me this, will you? Considering that there is no technical or mechanical reason behind it, how does one explain a driver as experienced as Rosberg overshooting a chicane not once but twice in a race that was as crucial (in terms of points) as Monza at a time when a ‘retribution’ was in order?

The answer from Wolff – “It’s bizarre!”

Well, it could indeed be a coincidence and maybe I’m just being too paranoid in imagining things. But let’s face it the sport is indeed more interesting this way (wink wink). Also, the reason why I’m not in any mood to sideline these events as “coincidence” is because it’s happened one too many times now and the timings of those events impeccably suggest a devious master plan in implementation.

Formula 1 has indeed witnessed its share of intra-team battles like Aryton Senna v Alain Prost, Fernando Alonso v Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel v Mark Webber in the past. But what makes this one so different and peevish at the same time is the ‘denial’ from all parties. Whether its Facebook posts that suggest all is well in the camp or Instagram pictures that show a friendly ‘photo-bomb’, every eventuality is marked with a tinge of suspicion and is followed by something that negates everything.

Hamilton’s emotional Facebook/Twitter picture in the aftermath of Monaco showing Rosberg and him during their go-karting days was swiftly followed by Hungary where unlike go-karting team orders and radio messages created havoc. The Mercedes tweet rendering an ‘all-is-hunki-dory’ image with a Hamilton photo-bomb preceded Canada where ironically Rosberg portrayed an ‘I won’t be intimidated’ image for himself. And of course Mercedes’ detailed explanation that everything was under ‘control’ happened just before Italy.

Needless to say the person who seems to be most affected by all the happenings is Nico Rosberg. Not only does he have the ‘rich boy’ image going against him, he also has to compete against an aura as radiant as Lewis Hamilton’s. Truly it’s the fans that make or break an F1 driver and everyone knows who everyone supports because without doubt if compared Hamilton is the more talented among the two.

And if one was to read the signs as given by Rosberg, one would have no doubts in deciphering that even Rosberg knows who the better driver is. If you don’t believe me just shoot back to May and relive the Monaco Grand Prix qualification fiasco. Ahem! Another coincidence, right!? Of course!

All in all keeping aside all the controversies and the dissensions, the thing that is keeping Mercedes so neurotically calm and composed in this whole affair is that they’re facing no major threats, as of yet, to the constructors’ championship. They can afford the “egocentric” luxury to have the drivers have a go at it as long as the team points keep coming in.

It would have been interesting to see whether such attitude would have been in place had Hungary, Belgium and Italy been the first three races of the season or if all three races would have witnessed both drivers retiring without scoring points.

However, that coincidence would have been too much to ask for a F1 enthusiast!

Mercedes – Formula 1’s double-edged sword

The great Michael Jordan once said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” Makes sense, doesn’t it? However, what the great Jordan failed to comprehend is that there will come a time when a certain Formula 1 team would prove that his quote was incomplete and undone. Mercedes has cleverly transformed Jordan’s quote as “Exploit talent intelligently to win championships and then term it as teamwork.”

I’ve been a firm believer of the fact that F1 is not and will never ever be a team sport. Those who think differently either do not understand the sport or quite frankly don’t give a damn about what is happening on the tracks. Time and again there have been numerous instances that prove this hypothesis and recently conspired events at the Hungary Grand Prix substantiate the statistic more.

The mistake that Mercedes made at the Hungaroring was not in giving Lewis Hamilton a lousy call but in making any call at all. Although I have no reason whatsoever to challenge Mercedes’ or any team’s orders during a race, but for Christ’s sake stop pretending all the time that both drivers mean the world to the team. Even If I take into consideration that Nico Rosberg was on faster tyres, he would have eventually pitted that would have jeopardized both his and Hamilton’s chances to get on the podium.

I’ll be honest, it is indeed an improbable task to be too critical of a team who with their immaculate cars and faultless strategies have totally dominated the 2014 Formula One season; but when a time comes that people talk more about why a team did what it did instead of appreciating and admiring a driver’s phenomenal exploits of a car and the circuit, the criticism is bound to flow.

Hamilton drove one of the most gruesome and impeccable races of his career at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Anyone watching would agree in a breath of a moment that the Brit executed a quintessential balance between ruthless grit and unblemished talent in his pitlane to podium drive. Not to forget he started on a wet track that was marred with crashes almost as soon as the race began as the drivers clearly failed to alter the strategies that were put in place during the scorching practice runs.

And that is where the idiosyncrasies come into play.

With the constructors’ and drivers’ championships pretty much in the bag for the Silver Arrows, a race in which they should have been taking pride courtesy Hamilton’s bustling performance was instead tainted due to their controversial call in asking Hamilton to make way for teammate Rosberg.

Now one can never clearly understand the logic behind any team order. Some say they are given to benefit a team, while others bring in a more ticklish angle into play that says a driver is being favoured. The call that Mercedes made was actually one of the most devious and at the same time clever in its execution. It was clearly a well thought-off move and was implemented in such a manner that anyone scrutinizing the decision at a later stage would be in a quandary about the motive behind the call. I know I am! But years of experience, and witnessing some of the dirtiest F1 moves in history, has made me quite cynical whenever a driver is asked to forego his position and let a ‘rival’ pass through.

If one was to take Mercedes’ side in this whole fiasco, one would say that the team wanted to cement its championship chances by trying to get both Rosberg and Hamilton on the podium. The German-based outfit obviously thought that Rosberg had a better chance at winning the race as he was on faster tyres and were confident enough that Hamilton would be competent enough to steal the podium from either Fernando Alonso or Daniel Ricciardo.

All right! Time to burst the bubble.

Mercedes, at the time of the race, were 174 points ahead of Red Bull, their closest competitor, in the constructors’ championship. Considering that they had the best car at the starting of the season and bearing in mind that they still have the best car after the mid-season Silverstone tests, only a fool would be falling for the lame excuse that ‘the championship race is still open’.

Secondly, even if Hamilton had allowed Rosberg to pass through, there was no chance whatsoever for the German-born Monaco resident to be spraying the champagne when the smoke cleared out. Why? Because considering that circumstances that the race was being raced in, he would have eventually pitted. Just for the record, Mercedes’ “team order” came on the 51st lap with a good 19 laps still left and did I mention that it was raining?

Thirdly, ignoring the blasphemous fact Mercedes’ flawed order was given to Hamilton at a time when his teammate was not even within DRS range, had Hamilton allowed Rosberg to pass through then Hamilton would have dropped to 5th on the grid and there was a next to impossible chance that either Ricciardo or Alonso would have ‘not’ ended on the podium. Hence, at the end of the whole stratagem we would still have had just one Mercedes driver on the podium.

Mercedes’ non-executive chairman Niki Lauda had gone off the record earlier in the season and mentioned that the Silver Arrows would let their dynamic duo ‘loose’ and ‘fight it out’ once the team title hopes are secured. Well, at present, if there’s anything that is secure it is the constructors’ championship. The drivers’ race is still open and therefore one cannot blame Hamilton on any way for doing what he did.

If anything, that Mercedes strategy should have been implemented before the Hungary Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, Hamilton is undeterred by the happenings in Hungary and is standing firm on his decision not to move aside for Rosberg. “It is not questioning authority,” he said. “I am hired to race and bring in points for the team. I am also hired to be me, and race my heart out. I did not start at the front of the pack. I started from the pitlane, so in my mind I cannot afford to lose anything else.”

Well said Lewis! You started from the pits on a track what was not meant to see a wet race with a car that was built overnight due to a qualifying fire attack. To top it all off you barged your way up and at one stage were even leading the race. No one had the authority to question your audacity.

Yet in the end, people are still talking about Mercedes, people are still questioning your ‘irrationality’, people are still wondering whether Nico could have actually ended up winning the race, and I am writing about it all.

Sorry Lewis! It’s a cruel world indeed

In Formula 1, two flints indeed start a fire!

It’s been an interesting Formula 1 season thus far. Despite the fact that Mercedes, led by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, have dominated 6 out of the 7 races, one can argue the fact that the season is still quite open.  However, Mercedes’ unprecedented dominance is not what makes the season stimulating. We’ve had teams dominate F1 in the past. It’s not something that is new. The Ferraris, the Renaults, the Brawns, the Red Bulls, etc have all been there done that. What makes this season one to watch right till the end is that it’s yet again encouraging the “whether F1 is a team sport or not” debate in probably the most intriguing manner possible.

Ever since the inception of the sport and the controversies that came along with it, there have been numerous discussions about the same. Generally there is always this one team every season that has to deal the frustrating problem of managing two “hotshot” drivers. However, with the events that conspired at the Malaysian Grand Prix at the starting of the season and those at the recently-concluded Canadian Grand Prix, one can safely arrive at the conclusion that this season there definitely is more than one team that is facing this conundrum.

 Interestingly, when the current season started, people thought (nay believed) that the team this season bound to be faced with “team-order issues” is going to be Ferrari. And who can blame their thinking. Fernando Alonso teaming up with the ‘Iceman’ Kimi Raikkonen would make any F1 fanatic jump up and feel that it was just a combination waiting to explode and cause chemical chaos. After all, it was Alonso’s arrival that proved to be the catalyst in Kimi’s leaving Ferrari in the first place. Both can be cocky and neither would settle for being designated as the “number 2” driver. Both drivers have statistics that speak volumes about their illustrious careers in F1. And the cherry that tops it all off is the fact that they both were racing for a team called “Ferrari”, whose history when it comes to teamwork is quite “brilliant” in itself. But, the 2014 season painted a much altered image of what one had in mind.

Enter Mercedes - the team that dominated the pre-season testing with their hybrid engine technology. The team knew clearly that this technological advancement would put the Silver Arrows right at the top. They knew that this was going to be their season to lose. And worst of all, Hamilton and Rosberg knew that they’ve been blessed with a car that could make them start dreaming again. Hamilton, who won the 2008 drivers’ championship by a single point, would surely want to bask in that glory again. And of course Rosberg, who we all know is one the most hardworking drivers on the circuit, would surely like to get a taste of being called world champion. Hence, back came the problem. Who was going to be No. 1?

 See the thing with Formula 1 “teams” is that they actually intend to function as a team to win championships by exploiting individual talents. Therefore, every team that has a limited budget would always designate their two drivers as No. 1 and No. 2. The No. 1 driver of course would be given the better car, would be given more attention and would be the “hero” for whom the No. 2 would have to always make sacrifices. And that is where every team is faced with the moral dilemma of who’s what.

No team on the face of it would come out openly and say that “X” is the No. 1 driver and “Y” is No. 2. It is unethical, immoral and quite frankly illegal to some extent as well. What they do on the other hand is to pull off certain strategies and make it sound like it’s a “team order” meant for the benefit of both drivers. For instance, at the Malaysian Grand Prix this season Williams driver Felipe Massa was clearly told on the radio to let his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who was just one spot behind and on “better tyres”, pass ahead because apparently Bottas had a shot at overtaking the driver in front of Massa.

So let’s get one thing straight, shall we? Team orders in Formula 1 are clearly meant for creating a pecking order between the drivers in a team so that they don’t run the risk of not finishing their individual races or end up colliding with each other. What cannot (or rather should not) be done is to camouflage drivers preferences/designations with team orders. When the drivers are out there racing, it’s every man for himself. They need to worry about the drivers’ championship and the team needs to worry about the constructors’ championship. What cannot be (and again should not) be done is the team worrying about the drivers’ championship. Because that is where priorities are set and predilections are created.

Let’s take another example and come back to the point I made earlier about Ferrari having a “brilliant” history when it comes to team orders. At the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix Rubens Barrichello, who had led the race for majority of the laps, was ordered at the very last lap on the radio to let teammate Michael Schumacher pass in order for Schumi to have a better chance at competing for the drivers’ championship. Thinking about the situation objectively, it would have in no way hindered Ferrari’s position in the constructors’ championship had Barrichello won the race. It would still have been a 1-2 finish for the team. And therefore, this event clearly brought out the driver designation theory in open.

Another appalling incident happened at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix when Renault implemented the “team order” loophole to order Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash his car as the same would then result in a safety car being called on the track and would in return allow teammate Fernando Alonso to cruise through to victory without having anyone bothering him for overtaking. Nowadays, however, the thing that is of concern is that it is the drivers who want to be in control. They are no longer listening to these “team orders” because everyone is insecure beyond limit and almost every driver feels the only reason why the team is passing a certain order is because it, in some discreet manner, is favoring the other driver.

 And that is where the 2014 Formula 1 season comes into play with its captivating happenings. The recently-concluded Canadian Grand Prix was probably the most enthralling of all races this season. It was event-packed and full of drama ever since the five lights went out. As usual Mercedes led the rest of the pack with its impeccable driving. Rosberg was leading Hamilton and Mercedes were all set to bag their seventh 1-2 finish on the trot. However, somewhere around the 30-35 lap some interesting events started to churn up.

Mercedes, who quite frankly have been struggling the whole season with handling Rosberg and Hamilton, issued a “genuine” team order that politely asked both drivers to not exert too much pressure on their cars and save energy for ERS implementation. The order was perfectly in line with the rules as it focused on the team’s benefits and not the drivers’. But the Hamilton-Rosberg rivalry that had been waiting to explode ever since the qualifying fiasco at the Monaco Grand Prix proved to overshadow the authority. As a result, Hamilton had to retire at the fag end with a brake snag while Rosberg ended up surrendering his number 1 spot to Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Keeping in mind the famous saying that goes “it takes two to tango”, the problem does not just lie with F1 teams issuing driver-specific orders discreetly in the form of “team orders”. The problem is much more beyond that. It goes as deep as the teams being helpless in front of the drivers. It goes as deep as the teams feeling the need to favor a certain driver so that his image can bring in the moolah. And it goes as deep as the team encouraging this great drama that promotes the sport in a more enchanting manner. The question remains though – whose ‘flint’ are you on?