Most important things first. For as long as there have been two-car teams in motorsport, there have been team orders.
It's part of the deal of going to a race that, sometimes, a team will need to get one of its drivers out of the way and let the other pass for the win, a podium, or even just a points finish. After all, in the end, every point counts.
Over the years, there have been plenty of team orders in Formula 1, with probably the three most famous examples being Ferrari at the 2010 German Grand Prix where they ordered Felipe Massa to let Fernando Alonso pass for the win.
There was a “Multi-Gate 21” from Red Bull at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix where Sebastian Vettel ignored Red Bull's instructions to stay behind Mark Webber – and as he famously put it: “I was racing, I was faster, I passed him, 'I won.'
Then in 2018, Mercedes ordered Valtteri Bottas to cede his position to Lewis Hamilton in Russia on a day when the Finn had done nothing wrong, to help Hamilton compete for the title.
But arguably the race that forced the team orders onto the wider public consciousness came on May 12, 2002 in Austria when Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari went into a storm.
Under the letter of absolute law, Ferrari did nothing wrong when it ordered Barrichello to allow Schumacher to take his fifth win from six races to start the 2002 season.
There was nothing in the rulebook prohibiting the posting of team orders, and so, Ferrari did just that, with Barrichello choosing to make a rather public point by slowing down exiting the final corner of the final lap to let his team leader through.
The final margin of victory was just 0.182 seconds as Ferrari's Jean Todt and Ross Brawn immediately went into defense mode while Barrichello did his best to put on a brave face and Schumacher looked somewhat timid.
For a driver famous for pushing the limits, he may also have realized that such a blatant move was wrong on a day when Barrichello would have won fair and square.
Almost before the cool-down lap was over, some in the paddock were screaming angrily and feeling uproar about denying Barrichello the win, but the likes of Ron Dennis at McLaren – himself no stranger to occasional team orders – defended the move.
On the podium, Schumacher was relegated to second and Barrichello was invited to the top step, but this was just for show as the record books prove, with Ferrari later referred to a special hearing by the FIA.
FIA hearing
More than a month later, with Schumacher on the verge of a fifth title, a hearing was held in Paris, where the FIA ruled that Ferrari had not actually broken any rules with the team's discipline.
The only thing that can be pinned on the Scuderia is Schumacher's breach of the podium rules when he called Barrichello to the top step and handed him the trophy.
For this reason, a fine of €1 million was imposed on Ferrari and the drivers, of which €500,000 was paid immediately and divided into one-third. The rest were suspended for one year on the condition that they do not commit a similar crime.
Over the summer, FIA president Max Mosley launched a working group that decided to ban team orders from the 2003 season, so, as all good Formula 1 teams do when something is banned, they came up with a loophole.
They had only just started talking to drivers via code, but it wasn't until the famous 2010 German Grand Prix and the “Fernando is faster than you” line that team orders reared their heads again.
On that day, Ferrari driver Stefano Domenicali, the current CEO and president of Formula 1, defended this approach as the team was summoned for breaching Article 39.1 of the sporting regulations.
It was fined €100,000 for the violation as the FIA committed to overturning the team's 2011 ban order.
As for Schumacher, he approved of Ferrari's tactics at Hockenheim, believing it must do what is necessary to try and secure the drivers' championship.
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