Coulthard to McLaren: Change How You Issue Team Orders

Former McLaren driver David Coulthard has praised the team's handling of the Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri rivalry but suggests one critical change. He believes that team orders, such as instructing a driver to hold position, should be delivered by team management, not the drivers' personal race engineers. Coulthard argues this is essential to protect the sacred trust between a driver and their engineer, whose primary allegiance must be to their driver's success.

Why it matters:

The relationship between a driver and their race engineer is one of the most critical and sensitive in Formula 1, built on absolute trust. The engineer is the driver's primary advocate and strategist on the pit wall. When that same person is forced to deliver an instruction that actively hinders their driver's race for the team's benefit, it can create a conflict of interest. This can fracture the crucial bond, potentially impacting communication, strategy execution, and overall performance.

The details:

• Coulthard used a powerful analogy on the Red Flags podcast, comparing the driver-engineer bond to "soldiers in a trench," who must trust each other completely to go over the top together.
• He stated that instructions like "Move over" or "Don't race" should come from the Team Principal or Sporting Director, not the race engineer.
• The Engineer's Role: Coulthard believes a driver should feel their engineer is "100% on their side," fighting for their advantage. He suggested an engineer should be able to deflect team orders by saying, "That's not my job. My job is to get my driver winning."
• McLaren History: He cited his own time at McLaren (1996-2004), where team manager Dave Ryan, not his personal race engineer, would relay any instructions concerning teammates like Mika Häkkinen or Kimi Räikkönen.

The big picture:

Despite his specific critique, Coulthard was full of praise for McLaren's overall philosophy of hiring two top-tier drivers and allowing them to compete, contrasting it with Ferrari's historical #1/#2 driver system during the Michael Schumacher era. He credits current team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Zak Brown for rebuilding a "winning culture" at the Woking-based team, one that he finds "beautiful to observe" as it fosters healthy competition.