FIA Requests Public Suggestions on Team Orders

The FIA announced today it will now be accepting, for the next couple of months, suggestions from the public on how to address the issue of team orders.

"Ferrari's win at this season's Austrian Grand Prix has highlighted the controversial nature of team orders," the FIA said in a statement. "Following incidents at the Austrian Grand Prix and the subsequent World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris, the FIA has decided to establish a working group to review team orders and to offer guidelines for their application in the future."

The FIA said it will accept suggestions from all involved in the sport - "from motor sport fans to motor sport team principals" - and a working group will then review the matter and make its recommendations.

Fans are invited to make their suggestions via e-mail, at teamorders@fia.com, not after September 1st 2002. Furthermore, a web page has been set up on the FIA website, to provide background on the issue.

FIA said it was already looking into a few suggestions, among them:

Unless tactical considerations make this impossible, team orders which are agreed within a team before a competition starts should be made public.

If the finishing order between two drivers has been pre-arranged, they should take up these pre-arranged positions as soon as is practicable, having regard to all the circumstances.

Team orders which a team considers it necessary to issue during a competition, e.g. "hold positions", should, whenever possible, be made public as soon as they are given.