

I was eight years old when Ferrari attempted to deploy team orders on Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi at Imola in 1982. Villeneuve interpreted the pit order to ‘slow’ as ‘hold position’, Pironi saw it differently, passed his team-mate, and took the win.

Famously, Villeneuve was incensed, and never spoke to his friend again. He died at Zolder, the feud never resolved. I never met either driver, and don’t ever claim to know them. However, would Villeneuve ever have accepted team orders again?

Fast forward to Silverstone, 2010, and Red Bull’s nose-gate scandal in qualifying. Vettel got the latest kit, Webber won the race. ‘Not bad for a number 2, eh,’ was his radio message. Stick it to ‘em, Mark.

Then we arrive at the ‘Sepang situation’. Red Bull tries to get its drivers to turn down their engines, save their tyres, and race for a controlled finish. It didn’t happen. Vettel passed, and took the win. Webber was, and probably still is, however long this story stays live, livid.

Was he right to obey team orders? Drivers throughout history have done so, but should we, as a critical audience, accept this?

There is the business of racing, there is the sport of racing, and there is the technology of racing. The three don’t mix. In Sepang, the teams tried to enforce the business of racing – secure points, save the car for future races, the team is the most important. That has screwed up the sport of racing, where drivers just go at it and, at best, obey the only rule between team-mates – don’t take each other off. Vettel took that option.

Then you have the technology of racing which is designed to help the sport, but actually helps business. We have engines that need to last more than one race distance, so they need to be nursed early in their lives. We have tyres that are deliberately built to degrade. We have DRS and KERS, which are supposed to aid overtaking.

Malaysia merely demonstrated that drivers see the three disciplines differently. Vettel saw the ‘sport’, and took the win. Rosberg took the ‘business’ option, and stayed behind Hamilton, who, as a ‘sport’ driver, was embarrassed. Webber took the ‘business’ decision when, in fact, he too is a ‘sport’ driver.

My guess is that, from now on, Webber will move out of ‘business’ and into ‘sport’, back where he belongs. If Rosberg does the same, and the teams allow them the freedom to do so, this should be a cracking season.