Former Driver Gerhard Berger States Ferrari Were ‘Wrong’ To Use Team Orders

A lot has been said about Ferrari using team orders in F1’s 1000th GP, held in China recently. And a lot continues to be heard about the same. One of the individuals to have made an observation on clearly one of the sport’s hot topics happens to be a former force at Ferrari.

Gerhard Berger is no superstar. Neither is he a world champion.

Yet, the former Austrian driver responsible for 10 race wins and 48 podiums, and most importantly, over a decade worth of experience in the top echelons of the sport is respected for possessing both unbiased views and a perspective you wouldn’t chide at akin to some other pundits in the sport.

So when the former noted Ferrari driver shared his perspective about the Italian team, it obviously made news and why not? After all, the 59-year-old isn’t just any other driver. He’s someone who’s driven for Ferrari, one of the sport’s most respected and successful stables in two separate stints.

Here’s what Berger shared on Ferrari’s recent move- team orders- a subject that is the Formula 1 equivalent of ‘Climate Change’, for its sheer power to polarise views and mobilize opinion.

“As much as I like Sebastian, and as much as I rate him, here’s a boy (Leclerc) who is capable to win the world championship.

“I don’t think it’s enough to say, ‘This one is experienced, this one is not experienced, so we take the card of experience.’ I think they got it wrong.

“Saying this, you always have to discuss this point in a different way – it depends where you are in the season.

“Last year, when we were in Monza, when [Maurizio] Arrivabene said we let everything run open when the championship was already going into the final stage, it was clear that if somebody has a chance it’s not Kimi Raikkonen, it’s Sebastian.”