Coulthard flags overlooked flaw in McLaren’s team orders approach

David Coulthard has waded into McLaren’s long-running team orders debate – but instead of rehashing familiar arguments, the former Grand Prix winner has zeroed in on a detail few have stopped to question: who delivers the message to the driver when papaya rules kick in.

While McLaren’s handling of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri has drawn scrutiny across the paddock, Coulthard believes the issue isn’t just about when team orders are used, but how they’re communicated – and by whom.

The Scot, who raced for McLaren between 1996 and 2004, argues that asking race engineers Will Joseph and Tom Stallard to relay instructions that restrain their own drivers risks undermining one of the most important relationships in Formula 1.

“The only criticism I would have is that I don't like when the engineer [conveys the orders] – because that bond between the driver and the engineer, for me, has to be absolute,” Coulthard said on the latest episode of the Red Flags Podcast.

To underline his point, the 13-time race winner turned to a stark analogy.

“I would liken it to: If you guys are in the trenches together and someone blows the whistle back in the day to go out and fight the enemy, you've got to know that you're both going at the same time.

“You know, [they're] not hiding behind you, and you're not hiding; you're there shoulder to shoulder.

“So that relationship between driver and engineer has to be unbreakable, that bond.”

In Coulthard’s view, the simplest way to protect that bond is to remove race engineers from the firing line altogether when it comes to team-imposed decisions.

Who Should Give the Order?

McLaren has been widely praised for assembling one of the strongest driver line-ups on the grid – and criticised just as often for struggling to manage it.

Coulthard acknowledged the challenge of handling two elite competitors under the same roof, but made clear where he believes responsibility should sit.

“So I think that when they do give 'move over, don't race' type instructions, that should come from the team principal or the sporting director,” he said. “It should not come from the race engineer.

“The driver should absolutely believe that his engineer would say: 'That's not my job, my job is to get my driver winning, and I will only give instructions that can help that. But I'm a professional and therefore if there's an instruction which is going to get my driver to hold position, that has to come from someone else in the team'.”

It’s a pointed critique – and one that touches on an element of McLaren’s operations rarely discussed amid the noise surrounding “papaya rules.”

Change on the horizon?

Coulthard’s comments also arrive at a time of transition behind the scenes at Woking.

McLaren has already moved to strengthen its senior structure by hiring former Red Bull chief strategist Will Courtenay as its new sporting director.

• Read also: Ex-Red Bull strategist Courtenay completes move to McLaren

His arrival could reshape internal processes, including how – and by whom – sensitive calls such as team orders are delivered during races.

If McLaren is serious about refining its approach while preserving trust within the cockpit, Coulthard’s warning may land closer to home than expected. In a sport decided by trust as much as talent, the voice in a driver’s ear still matters —-perhaps more than anyone has been willing to admit.

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