How not to ignore team orders

If you were going to ignore team orders, this is not the way to do it. Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix had Ferrari’s Felipe Massa leading teammate Fernando Alonso for several laps and the team eventually radioed Massa giving him instructions to move over. Alonso is second place in the driver’s championship while Massa languishes down the order. In an act of defiance, Massa ignored the message and chose not to yield to his teammate. Massa has vowed to finish the season driving for himself and no one else. It’s a noble charter and one easily imagined as the Brazilian is seeking a drive for 2014 so his race performances mean everything at this point. Many fans have serious issues with team orders and would love nothing else than to see drivers ignore those orders and go on to finish the race on their terms. Problem is, Alonso passed Massa anyway and it didn’t take team orders to show us why Massa is on his way out of Ferrari at the end of this year. The team order in this case was a mere ...