McLaren F1 team-mates disagree over controversial team orders

Hakkinen and Coulthard stood together in 2001 McLaren race suits — Photo: © IMAGO

McLaren F1

McLaren F1 team-mates disagree over controversial team orders

Team orders are a hot topic in F1, always

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 5 August 2026 19:30

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Two former McLaren F1 drivers have squabbled openly about whether they had team orders imposed on them while they were at the team.

Team orders have been the focus for much of the past few seasons, with 'papaya rules' idea leading to controversies during both the 2024 and 2025 drivers' championship battles.

That concept reared its head again at the recent Hungarian Grand Prix, when Lando Norris was clearly faster than Oscar Piastri, but was sat behind him in P2. McLaren refused to implement any kind of driver swap to make it fair for both drivers, but then Piastri was pitted into traffic, allowing Norris to get ahead by the time his pit stop came around.

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The switch around was not caused by McLaren, however, with Piastri colliding with Carlos Sainz when the Spaniard was under blue flag conditions, but it caused Piastri to be angered by both Sainz and the decision to pit him into traffic by the team.

Now, two former McLaren racers have spoken out about the team orders - or lack of - that were in place when they were team-mates.

David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen were partners for six seasons between 1996-2001, coinciding with a period of supreme dominance for the team, with Hakkinen winning the 1998 and 1999 world championship titles.

Were Hakkinen and Coulthard subjected to team orders?

Both men appeared on the Up to Speed podcast, where they squabbled over whether they had team orders in place during their McLaren days.

"Do we get into the team orders, which was, for both of us, we were reliving that last year with Lando and Oscar?," Coulthard asked Hakkinen. "You know, again, everyone thinks that these scenarios are happening for the first time."

Hakkinen replied: "David, you know we didn't have any team orders, you know," to which Coulthard then shot back: "Haha! Okay, we can agree to disagree."

Hakkinen then went on to talk about the current driver lineup at McLaren. "Well, first of all, you know, I rate Lando and Oscar - extremely talented racing drivers," the Finn said.

"Very professional racing drivers, not too emotional racing drivers, in my opinion. So, that is good to operate with the drivers like that, because they're very consistent. They're very consistent indeed.

"They've been only a few years together in a team, and Oscar is still not so experienced, in my opinion. So, it requires time."

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F1 McLaren Lando Norris Oscar Piastri David Coulthard Mika Hakkinen