Norris did as he was told but which other drivers obeyed – and disobeyed

It took 20 laps of lobbying from Lando Norris’ race engineer Will Joseph before their driver accepted the call to move aside for his team mate.

The decision to give up a win when ordered to is never an easy one, and Norris is far from the first driver to agonise over it. Indeed, several of his predecessors flat-out refused, though more have done what he did and acquiesced to their team’s wishes.

Will Norris’ decision pay off in the long-term? Would all of his rivals have been as willing to let Oscar Piastri take his first win?

These are some of the most famous cases of drivers being told to give up victories – whether or not they agreed to.

Carlos Reutemann

Disobeyed team orders for Alan Jones at the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix

Alan Jones and Williams got their first season as defending champions off to a strong start at Long Beach, where he scored the 11th win of his career. But the team’s attempt to impose a running order at the second round at a soaked Jacarepagua backfired: Carlos Reutemann wasn’t having any of it, and nor could he really be expected to, as staying ahead ensured his 11th victory.

The consequences were dire for Williams. Although their evolved FW07 was easily quick enough to take the constructors’ title, Brabham’s Nelson Piquet beat their feuding drivers to the title, as each only scored one more win all season. A case study in the importance of intra-team harmony.

Didier Pironi

Disobeyed team orders for Gilles Villeneuve at the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix

F1’s most tragic team orders tale, as Gilles Villeneuve died 13 days after this explosive falling-out with his team mate Didier Pironi. The Ferraris had the fight for victory to themselves and put on a show in front of a depleted field, but when it came to the serious business of who would win, Pironi refused to fall into line. The furious Villeneuve vowed never to speak to him again, and it seems he never did.

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Rene Arnoux

Disobeyed team orders for Alain Prost at the 1982 French Grand Prix

Later the same year, Renault also managed to contrive a falling-out over team orders at their home race. Heading into the 11th round of the season, Alain Prost was only 16 points off the lead, held by Pironi who was now absent due to injury, and team mate Rene Arnoux had only four points in total. But when Arnoux was told to let Prost by, he refused, taking a home win, then left the team at the end of the year.

Riccardo Patrese

Obeyed team orders for Nigel Mansell at the 1992 French Grand Prix

Nigel Mansell had twice as many points as his closest championship rival, team mate Riccardo Patrese, as they reached the midway point of the 1992 season. But Mansell had a clear ‘number one’ stipulation in his contract, and Patrese made sure everyone knew about it as he beat his team mate off the line then raised his hand to wave the other car by at Magny-Cours.

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David Coulthard

Obeyed team orders for Mika Hakkinen at the 1997 European and 1998 Australian grands prix

Piastri’s victory last weekend was not the first time a driver has received their first victory due to a team instruction. Indeed, it’s happened before at McLaren, and Mika Hakkinen was the beneficiary at the end of the controversial 1997 season finale.

Coulthard later claimed McLaren team principal Ron Dennis arranged the timing of Hakkinen’s pit stop to avoid delaying Jacques Villeneuve in the Williams driver’s efforts to beat Schumacher to the title. Using somewhat stricter language than Joseph did for Norris, Coulthard was told he would be “seriously compromising his position with the team” if he didn’t let Hakkinen go.

Incredibly, a similar situation played out at the first race of the next season. This time the McLaren team mates agreed that whichever driver led after the first corner would win the race. Hakkinen duly took the lead, but lost it to Coulthard when a radio communications error led him to make an unnecessary pit stop. Again Coulthard accepted the team’s request to hand the lead back, but later admitted he regretted it.

Mika Salo

Obeyed team orders for Eddie Irvine at the 1999 German Grand Prix

All the drivers on this list who gave up victories for their team mates won races on other occasions – with one exception. Mika Salo was given the daunting task of standing in for Michael Schumacher when the Ferrari star was injured in mid-1999. His absence made hitherto number two Eddie Irvine the team’s leader, but Salo soon had the measure of him, and was on course to score his first grand prix victory at the Hockenheimring in 1999 when he was told to move aside. He did, surrendering his only shot at a grand prix victory to Irvine’s doomed title bid.

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Michael Schumacher

Obeyed team orders for Eddie Irvine at the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix

Two of Irvine’s four grand prix victories, all taken in that 1999 season, came courtesy of his team mates. When Schumacher returned with two races to he swept all before him at Sepang, then waved Irvine through, ensuring he carried a four-point lead over Hakkinen into the season finale. But with 91 grand prix victories by the time of his retirement, Schumacher was at least better equipped to let one go than Salo.

Rubens Barrichello

Obeyed team orders for Michael Schumacher at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix

Irvine’s replacement Rubens Barrichello gave up second place to Schumacher at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2001 when told to by Ferrari. Afterwards he reassured journalists that Ferrari would never call on him to do the same for a victory.

That was disproven at the same race 12 months later. Schumacher may have built up a lead of more than two wins in just five races, but Ferrari were taking no chances, and team principal Jean Todt told Barrichello: “Let Michael past for the championship.”

Barrichello made Schumacher wait even longer than Norris did to Piastri, holding his lead until the final corner. He then pulled over, to a chorus of boos from the crowd, and the FIA reacted by introducing a ban on team orders.

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Felipe Massa

Obeyed team orders for Fernando Alonso at the 2010 German Grand Prix

Back at the Hockenheimring 11 years after Ferrari told Salo to give up his only win, the team had more bad news for Felipe Massa, 12 months on from his brush with death at the Hungaroring. Heading for what would have been his first victory since that shocking crash, his race engineer Rob Smedley carefully told him: “Fernando is faster than you.”

Fearing the consequences of the FIA’s ban on team orders, Ferrari stopped short of explicitly telling Massa to move aside. The message had the desired effect, however, and he waved Fernando Alonso through, moving him up to fifth in the championship behind then-leader Lewis Hamilton. Alonso’s race engineer, current McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, no doubt drew valuable lessons about how Ferrari handled this episode.

Massa never did get another win, though he had revenge of sorts shortly before leaving Ferrari, refusing a similar instruction to move over for Alonso late in 2013. By that point the FIA had legalised team orders again, former Ferrari boss Todt having taken charge of the governing body – though wary teams were still couching their orders in euphemisms, as another notorious episode that year revealed.

Sebastian Vettel

Disobeyed team orders for Mark Webber at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

Piastri’s manager Mark Webber must wish his last team mate had been more like Norris. When Red Bull told Sebastian Vettel to hold position behind Webber in the closing stages of the second race of 2013 at Sepang, he was having none of it, barged past his team mate (Webber raising a middle finger in salute) and won the race.

“Multi 21, Seb,” Webber said accusingly afterwards. This was the order the pair had been given, specifying Webber’s car number two ahead of Vettel’s. Watching his protege take his first victory 11 years on, did Webber feel a twinge of jealousy that Norris eventually complied with his ‘Multi 814’?

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Valtteri Bottas

Obeyed team orders for Lewis Hamilton at the 2018 Russian Grand Prix

With six races left in the 2018 season Valtteri Bottas was mathematically capable of beating Lewis Hamilton to the world championship, though his 110-point deficit meant he needed to win at least four rounds with Hamilton not scoring to be a realistic threat. In that scenario Vettel, 40 points adrift in his Ferrari, was obviously a greater threat.

Mercedes therefore told Bottas to give up the lead to Hamilton at Sochi. It was the second time that year they imposed orders on their drivers, having also told Bottas to stay behind Hamilton after his unsuccessful attempt to pass his team mate after a late restart at the Hockenheimring.

Sergio Perez

Obeyed team orders for Max Verstappen at the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix

After Max Verstappen spun off early in the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix, team mate Sergio Perez was told to let him past twice. “That’s very unfair,” he replied when given the final instruction to move over on lap 46.

He was not at all impressed when Verstappen refused to return the favour later that year at Interlagos, when a mere sixth place was at stake. “It shows who he really is,” remarked Perez. “I told you already last time guys, don’t ask that again to me,” Verstappen told his race engineer.

Lando Norris

Obeyed team orders for Oscar Piastri at the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix

While Verstappen has shown before he has little time for team orders, even during his first F1 season at Toro Rosso (now RB), Norris has been more obedient during his career, all of which he’s spent at McLaren. Norris debated Joseph over a similar instruction regarding Daniel Ricciardo at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2022, and the year before dutifully followed his team mate home for a one-two at Monza.

However Norris has also benefitted from his team’s instructions in the past. He thanked Piastri for “making my life easier” when he gave up a podium finish at his home race earlier this year. Perhaps it was occasions like that which made his mind up – and the expectation he might need similar help in the future if he’s going to challenge Verstappen for the championship, which may ultimately prove more valuable than the seven points he just gave up.