When are team orders bad... and when are they really bad?

I can't speak for everyone, but I watch F1 because I love the racing. Sure, the off-track drama can sometimes be almost as entertaining, but hardly as thrilling as seeing two skilled drivers in powerful cars fighting it out on track.

Seeing it like this, we were robbed on Sunday. Just after the pitstops, everyone was hanging off the edge of their chairs, trying to see how Massa would deal with the hard tyre (which he clearly dislikes) and whether Alonso could take advantage of his struggles. As Massa kept locking up, Alonso was closing in dangerously and we were set for a brilliant fight.

Looking back at it now it is clear that Alonso wasted his only chance to take the lead as, after Massa got used to driving on hard tyres, he didn't look threatened anymore. The gap was a comfortable 4 seconds and we were getting ready to celebrate Felipe Massa's return to form, exactly one year after his horrific accident in Hungary.
 
What happened next is pretty well documented; the reaction from journalists and fans was passionate and the podium and press conference a sad affair. But why were we all so shocked? After all, team orders have occured several times in the past, even after they were banned in 2002.

One would be naive to assume that it is possible for a team to give both their drivers equal chances until the end of the year. Fans watch the sport for the racing. Teams and drivers are in it to win, and some of them will try and do so at all costs. So, if team orders are inevitable and (relatively) frequent, what's the fuss all about? Why is this different?

Well, the first obvious reason is that both drivers are still in contention for the championship. The new points system makes gaps look a lot bigger than they actually are and Keith from F1 Fanatic has done a great job of explaining Massa's and Alonso's relative positions in the standings. For me, there is a clear difference between what happened on Sunday and Massa helping Raikkonen in 2007 or vice versa in 2008. What Ferrari did in Germany was to publicly declare that they do not consider Massa a championship contender. Without his team's moral and practical support, he certainly isn't one.

Another important point is that the Constructors' points didn't change after the swap, i.e. Massa wasn't helping his team, he was helping Alonso. Two years ago, same place, Kovalainen let Hamilton past, who then went on to win. Crucially, Hamilton had the pace and the strategy to challenge for the lead and, after overtaking Kovalainen, he made two further passes and ended up winning the race. As a result, the team's points were maximised.

On a more sentimental note, Massa was about to win a race for the first time since his life-threatening crash, exactly a year ago. The team missed an excellent opportunity for positive press and a fairytale story. People like fairytales. What people don't like is spoilt drivers who make a fuss about "being stuck" behind their teammates while being faster than them, yet fail to overtake them without the team's help. This wasn't good for Alonso's image, for Ferrari's image or for the sport's image.

In the end, I didn't want to see a repeat of Turkey, but I did want to see a race.