F1 fans will 'crucify' teams if team orders are used in 2026 title battle, says former world champion Mika Hakkinen

Two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen has warned that Formula 1 teams risk 'being crucified' by the sport's fans if they implement team orders in an attempt to influence this year's title battle.

Kimi Antonelli leads his Mercedes team-mate George Russell and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton by 59 points at the top of the standings, with McLaren's Lando Norris 83 points back in fourth after belatedly igniting his title defence with victories at the last two races.

With 11 rounds remaining, Hamilton is 28 points clear of his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, while Norris has moved 55 points ahead of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Given the significant margins by which the British duo each trail Antonelli, it has been a topic of speculation as to whether either Ferrari or McLaren would consider implementing team orders sooner rather than later to aid their better-positioned driver in the title fight.

Hakkinen, who spoke to Sky Sports News in his role as a Laureus Academy Member, said: "Which team is going to do this kind of change and what are the arguments they are going to give and tell the fans? This is going to be an important factor.

"All these drivers have a huge fanbase these days in the world, and if the team are going to decide one day that this driver is going to be number two, the fans are going to crucify this team.

"So, you have to be very careful these days how you are activating these kinds of team orders."

The issue of team orders became a talking point at the Dutch Grand Prix when Hamilton became infuriated with his Ferrari team after he was held by Leclerc.

After the race, Hamilton pointed out the contrast between the approaches of Ferrari and Mercedes, who were decisive in ordering Russell to let Antonelli past him having adjusted the Italian's strategy to fend off the threat coming from the seven-time world champion.

Hamilton later posted on social media expressing regret for the tone of his comments to the media and over the radio during the Zandvoort race, but Hakkinen says his reaction was "absolutely normal".

"I think what Lewis experienced in Zandvoort, it was explained from the team why it happened," Hakkinen said.

"Emotions with Lewis' experience was absolutely normal. Maybe it wasn't only emotion, just also common sense. 'We can score more points if you let me overtake!'

"But nowadays when I look at Grand Prix racing from the outside, when I'm in the paddock, it's different. You see much more, you get much more information on what's happening.

"The drivers are getting only a very tiny percentage of the information we get on TV, so when they are following another car and it doesn't let them overtake, they don't have the information and the calculations that the team have, so then very often you get these kind of reactions from the drivers, which is very normal."

Hakkinen reflected on his own experience of team orders during title races, with the Finnish driver having come up against Michael Schumacher when the seven-time world champion had clear number-one status at Ferrari.

Hakkinen won successive drivers' titles in 1998 and 1999 before finishing second to Schumacher in 2000 as the German won the first of five successive championships at Ferrari.

"The fanbase has changed in Formula 1; the generation is different than in my time," Hakkinen said.

"When I was racing against Michael Schumacher when he was at Ferrari, they started doing team orders already at the first race of the season.

"It was very obvious that if one driver is very strong in a team and started to win races and score points, the team is very much aware that if they want to win the world championship, they need to support this one driver 100 per cent.

"That's what Michael Schumacher was able to manage to do with Ferrari when he was racing there.

"We had a little bit of a different philosophy at McLaren. We wanted to give both drivers the same opportunity until the points were at a point that one couldn't catch the other; then the team-mate has to start supporting the leading driver. That was a common-sense operation.

"Now the teams want to win the Drivers' Championship and the Constructors' Championship, they want to win both. So. it's important that both drivers are getting maximum performance all the time in every race."

Hakkinen was speaking to Sky Sports in his role as a Laureus Academy Member ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at Madring from September 11-13. Madrid, a global city of sport, is becoming the new home of the Spanish GP, after hosting the Laureus World Sports Awards in April.

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Friday September 47.30am: F3 Practice8.55am: F2 Practice11am: Italian Grand Prix Practice One (session starts at 11.30pm)*12.55pm: F3 Qualifying1.50pm: F2 Qualifying2.35pm: Italian Grand Prix Practice Two (session starts at 3pm)4.15pm: The F1 Show5.20pm: Team Bosses' Press Conference

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