2021 Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[El Scorchio]

Does anyone know if red bull will enforce team orders in favour of Max Verstappen? What I mean is will Sergio be allowed to race max or will he be ordered to give the win to max so he has more chance of winning the drivers title?

If they're smart they will. Max needs every point he can get up against Merc and Hamilton. They can't afford to let the drivers squander points fighting each other. But I doubt we'll see more than 1 or 2 situations in which Perez is ahead of Max

Exactly. It'll be a question of how the season unfolds. I don't see them being as blatant about it as Ferrari have been in the past, but if it's tight between a Mercedes driver and Verstappen (or indeed Perez- who knows how things might play out?) then they'd be silly not to try and maximise points returns for the WDC contender, provided it doesn't put WCC points in jeopardy. There may well this season come a point where teams are put in that position.

[MKlaus]

Does anyone know if red bull will enforce team orders in favour of Max Verstappen? What I mean is will Sergio be allowed to race max or will he be ordered to give the win to max so he has more chance of winning the drivers title?

If they're smart they will. Max needs every point he can get up against Merc and Hamilton. They can't afford to let the drivers squander points fighting each other. But I doubt we'll see more than 1 or 2 situations in which Perez is ahead of Max

Exactly. It'll be a question of how the season unfolds. I don't see them being as blatant about it as Ferrari have been in the past, but if it's tight between a Mercedes driver and Verstappen (or indeed Perez- who knows how things might play out?) then they'd be silly not to try and maximise points returns for the WDC contender, provided it doesn't put WCC points in jeopardy. There may well this season come a point where teams are put in that position.

ferrari hasn't done it with leclerc though. but a good example is mercedes where they have been ruthless in issuing team orders, to the extent that they asked bottas to give away win to hamilton. i don't think it's needed at red bull as perez would hardly be in front of max.

[JordanMugen]

Does anyone know if red bull will enforce team orders in favour of Max Verstappen? What I mean is will Sergio be allowed to race max or will he be ordered to give the win to max so he has more chance of winning the drivers title?

If they're smart they will. Max needs every point he can get up against Merc and Hamilton. They can't afford to let the drivers squander points fighting each other. But I doubt we'll see more than 1 or 2 situations in which Perez is ahead of Max

Exactly. It'll be a question of how the season unfolds. I don't see them being as blatant about it as Ferrari have been in the past, but if it's tight between a Mercedes driver and Verstappen (or indeed Perez- who knows how things might play out?) then they'd be silly not to try and maximise points returns for the WDC contender, provided it doesn't put WCC points in jeopardy. There may well this season come a point where teams are put in that position.

Taking a win away from Perez would be unacceptable IMO, apart from in the last race or two if it is absolutely necessary. Doing a Ferrari 2002 would be unacceptable for the sport and bring the sport into disrepute IMO.

[Of course a sneaky undercut for the trailing driver ala Multi21 might be an option for the pitwall...]

[MKlaus]

If they're smart they will. Max needs every point he can get up against Merc and Hamilton. They can't afford to let the drivers squander points fighting each other. But I doubt we'll see more than 1 or 2 situations in which Perez is ahead of Max

Exactly. It'll be a question of how the season unfolds. I don't see them being as blatant about it as Ferrari have been in the past, but if it's tight between a Mercedes driver and Verstappen (or indeed Perez- who knows how things might play out?) then they'd be silly not to try and maximise points returns for the WDC contender, provided it doesn't put WCC points in jeopardy. There may well this season come a point where teams are put in that position.

Taking a win away from Perez would be unacceptable IMO, apart from in the last race or two if it is absolutely necessary. Doing a Ferrari 2002 would be unacceptable for the sport and bring the sport into disrepute IMO.

[Of course a sneaky undercut for the trailing driver ala Multi21 might be an option for the pitwall...]

mercedes did that in 2018. took a win away from bottas and gave it to hamilton. that didn't bring the sport into disrepute. why would be case now if red bull does it. its the right thing to do from a team's perspective to secure lead and win championship if max is in need of it. like toto said after that race, he didn't want to look like a fool at the end of the year if hamilton would have lost the title by a small margin, if not having done that would have bit them at the end of season. so it doesn't matter what part of the season they are in, if a situation arises, it's absolutely the right thing to do to give the win to max and not regret it later.

[Kingshark]

Exactly. It'll be a question of how the season unfolds. I don't see them being as blatant about it as Ferrari have been in the past, but if it's tight between a Mercedes driver and Verstappen (or indeed Perez- who knows how things might play out?) then they'd be silly not to try and maximise points returns for the WDC contender, provided it doesn't put WCC points in jeopardy. There may well this season come a point where teams are put in that position.

Taking a win away from Perez would be unacceptable IMO, apart from in the last race or two if it is absolutely necessary. Doing a Ferrari 2002 would be unacceptable for the sport and bring the sport into disrepute IMO.

[Of course a sneaky undercut for the trailing driver ala Multi21 might be an option for the pitwall...]

mercedes did that in 2018. took a win away from bottas and gave it to hamilton. that didn't bring the sport into disrepute. why would be case now if red bull does it.

Max is not British, so the Anglo-centric controlled F1 media will make a much bigger deal out of it if Red Bull does a Russia 2018.

[dans79]

mercedes did that in 2018. took a win away from bottas and gave it to hamilton. that didn't bring the sport into disrepute.

All you have to do is look at the points standings entering the weekend to see why it was done, and why it was ok.

1. Ham - 281
2. Vet - 241
3. Rai - 174
4. Bot - 171

so it doesn't matter what part of the season they are in, if a situation arises, it's absolutely the right thing to do to give the win to max and not regret it later.

Doing it early in the season, or when the inter team battle is close will cause all kinds of headaches for the team. So no, it's not ok to do whenever.

As mentioned above Austria 2002 is a perfect example of how it can backfire.

1. Hate from fans that carried on for a substantial period of time.
2. A $1,000,000 fine
3. A rule changes to ban any type of team orders

[MKlaus]

mercedes did that in 2018. took a win away from bottas and gave it to hamilton. that didn't bring the sport into disrepute.

All you have to do is look at the points standings entering the weekend to see why it was done, and why it was ok.

1. Ham - 281
2. Vet - 241
3. Rai - 174
4. Bot - 171

so it doesn't matter what part of the season they are in, if a situation arises, it's absolutely the right thing to do to give the win to max and not regret it later.

Doing it early in the season, or when the inter team battle is close will cause all kinds of headaches for the team. So no, it's not ok to do whenever.

As mentioned above Austria 2002 is a perfect example of how it can backfire.

1. Hate from fans that carried on for a substantial period of time.
2. A $1,000,000 fine
3. A rule changes to ban any type of team orders

it really is a matter of using a lense of convenience for the sake of argument. 2007 is a classic example of not doing it right. red bull have been desperate for a championship and with honda, any opportunity to maximize their chances is a good enough reason to do it. perez can wait for his first win with red bull as the interest of the team and potential champion is more important than the interest of the second driver and a useless equality thing between the drivers. genuinely speaking, perez is not going to beat max and hamilton to championship. so why not maximize opportunities for max against hamilton.
i do not want to drag this thread to make it ferrari thing from 2002, otherwise it's easy to debate your points there.

[wowgr8]

mercedes did that in 2018. took a win away from bottas and gave it to hamilton. that didn't bring the sport into disrepute.

All you have to do is look at the points standings entering the weekend to see why it was done, and why it was ok.

1. Ham - 281
2. Vet - 241
3. Rai - 174
4. Bot - 171

so it doesn't matter what part of the season they are in, if a situation arises, it's absolutely the right thing to do to give the win to max and not regret it later.

Doing it early in the season, or when the inter team battle is close will cause all kinds of headaches for the team. So no, it's not ok to do whenever.

As mentioned above Austria 2002 is a perfect example of how it can backfire.

1. Hate from fans that carried on for a substantial period of time.
2. A $1,000,000 fine
3. A rule changes to ban any type of team orders

Mercedes would not hesitate to kill a Bottas race for Hamilton's sake early in the season. Red Bull should do the same, and I hope they're ruthless enough to make a big decision like that

[wesley123]

Mercedes would not hesitate to kill a Bottas race for Hamilton's sake early in the season. Red Bull should do the same, and I hope they're ruthless enough to make a big decision like that

I've clearly watched different F1 races than you in the past seasons, but when did Mercedes do such a thing?

[Zynerji]

mercedes did that in 2018. took a win away from bottas and gave it to hamilton. that didn't bring the sport into disrepute.

All you have to do is look at the points standings entering the weekend to see why it was done, and why it was ok.

1. Ham - 281
2. Vet - 241
3. Rai - 174
4. Bot - 171

so it doesn't matter what part of the season they are in, if a situation arises, it's absolutely the right thing to do to give the win to max and not regret it later.

Doing it early in the season, or when the inter team battle is close will cause all kinds of headaches for the team. So no, it's not ok to do whenever.

As mentioned above Austria 2002 is a perfect example of how it can backfire.

1. Hate from fans that carried on for a substantial period of time.
2. A $1,000,000 fine
3. A rule changes to ban any type of team orders

it really is a matter of using a lense of convenience for the sake of argument. 2007 is a classic example of not doing it right. red bull have been desperate for a championship and with honda, any opportunity to maximize their chances is a good enough reason to do it. perez can wait for his first win with red bull as the interest of the team and potential champion is more important than the interest of the second driver and a useless equality thing between the drivers. genuinely speaking, perez is not going to beat max and hamilton to championship. so why not maximize opportunities for max against hamilton.
i do not want to drag this thread to make it ferrari thing from 2002, otherwise it's easy to debate your points there.

I think that is a single- point- failure of logic.

I think Sergio is in the best shape of his career, and he has both hands on this Bull. I also believe he has HUGE backing from Horner.

He may be the dark-horse bet for WDC this year.

[MKlaus]

I think that is a single- point- failure of logic.

I think Sergio is in the best shape of his career, and he has both hands on this Bull. I also believe he has HUGE backing from Horner.

He may be the dark-horse bet for WDC this year.

let's be more analytical here. to start with, he is not a great qualifier. he will always start behind the likes of max, hamilton and even bottas. his inability to make the tyres work harder in qualifying is going to be a hindrance. that weakness becomes his traditional strength on race day, especially running longer stints. but it's one thing to have done that on midfield and entirely another proposition to do it on front runners. whenever he tries to elongate stints, he would lose massive time to the front runners, like max found out in bahrain. making a come back and attack the likes of hamilton and max is neigh impossible. there may be odd races where he may win, but for as long as he remains weak on qualifying, he would possibly never make come back from behind. at best he may get bottas on race day on some occasions, but if hamilton and max are ahead, he won't shake them.
as for huge backing, even albon had huge backing, but that backing is nowhere near the preferential treatment that max gets at red bull. all compromises would be made in the interest of max, who is their single biggest asset. remember, they preferred him over ricciardo who is a top talent himself.

[Zynerji]

Tyre preservation is key to defending the undercut.

He's gonna win races. Let's see how many.

[wowgr8]

Win races ahead of Max and Hamilton??

[Kingshark]

Mercedes would not hesitate to kill a Bottas race for Hamilton's sake early in the season. Red Bull should do the same, and I hope they're ruthless enough to make a big decision like that

I've clearly watched different F1 races than you in the past seasons, but when did Mercedes do such a thing?

Bottas was asked to move out of Hamilton’s way at Bahrain 2017, twice in the same race in fact. That was the third race of the season.

Mercedes are also responsible for one of the most embarrassing team orders in living memory, where they told Bottas to slow down in Singapore just so that he wouldn’t jump Hamilton with the undercut.

Mercedes would gladly kill Bottas’ race if it meant that Hamilton gets an extra point. Let’s see if Red Bull will act similarly ruthless.

[Pany]

Well, is easy. Depends on the team tatget for the season. If winning title is the goal, so they will and must do anythink they can, they are a team, not individuals. Would be very stupid to miss eventual opportunity to get title