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Red Bull Racing

Red Bull 'hierarchy' noted behind Baku team order debate

Red Bull was placed in a difficult position during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but opted not to implement team orders.

Verstappen race Baku
Article
To news overview © Red Bull Content Pool

Racing driver Alex Brundle has highlighted the "hierarchy" that exists at Red Bull as a key reason why its drivers did not swap positions during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

In the early stages of the race, Isack Hadjar was running behind his team-mate Max Verstappen but appeared to have more pace on the soft compound compared to Verstappen's medium.

The subject of team orders was floated at the time, but ultimately Red Bull opted not to switch their drivers around.

Brundle, however, did not see it as an unreasonable request.

"It's an interesting interplay between the two of them," Brundle told the F1 Nation podcast.

"The medium tyre worked so much worse on the Red Bull than the soft tyre did.

"I don't think it made a huge amount of difference to their eventual finishing positions when you look how far Isack was behind at the end of the race.

"But honestly, there was definitely a period where on the pit wall, I would have switched them back."

[Article continues below]

'Reasonable' to ask Verstappen to pull over

Verstappen went on to finish the race in second place, crossing the line just under two-tenths of a second down on winner George Russell. 

The Dutchman has raced for Red Bull since early 2016 and has since established himself as one of the most successful drivers in the sport's history.

Over the last handful of years, he has faced no challenge from his team-mates and has consolidated his position as the team leader.

Brundle suggested that Red Bull did not wish to disrupt that stance by opting not to order a swap around of their drivers.

"Giving Isack a chance to overtake the McLaren was a reasonable thing to do, but it's still the Red Bull second seat.

"There's a hierarchy in that team, and they decided not to break it."

Also interesting:

Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on the Azerbaijan GP but also look ahead to F1's return this weekend to Malaysia! Rumours linking Christian Horner with a return to the sport is a major talking point.

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