Hey. Its Flavio here. Now, I've noticed that there has been a lot of talk about Red Bull, and Mercedes, and team orders. My friend, Bernie, has asked me to help any future F1 team principals out with inter-team relations. So here is my guide to inter-team relations hewn from many years of experience in Formula One.
Anyway, that's my ideas. I hope I'll be back soon to continue my success. Cheers,
- The first and most important thing to do is to ensure that your number 2 driver doesn't get near enough your number 1 driver to ever have a chance to challenge him. Having 2 competitive drivers in your team sounds great, but if you do you could end up being beaten by a
cigarette company running Takuma
Sato. There are numerous ways to do this. You could hire a complete idiot like Jos Verstappen or Nelsinho Piquet to drive alongside a bona fide F1 genius or just not equip the car with the same [REDACTED - Flav's lawyer], just so long as the FIA [REDACTED - Flav's lawyer]. Anyway, since they've banned one car teams, that's the best approach.
- Getting the right number 2 driver is important too. Ensuring he has no discernible ambitions on the top of the Championship is key; the willingness to do anything to help the team is better. One of the key ingredients I find, is that your number 2 driver is not some
![]()
who'll run to the
FIA at the first
opportunity. Make sure his Dad is not some ruthless
too. That way you'll be free to carry on as a team principal despite [REDACTED - Flav's lawyer]
- Getting your drivers' managers on side is also vitally important. I find the easiest way to do this is to find drivers with a manager you know you can trust. In my case, that led to one option. Me! It means your driver can be satisfied to have the chance to get their arse handed to them by Alonso - or some other top driver - rather than frustrated. Rookies are always better for this. A good manager keeps drivers on, unless they're ungrateful
like Jarno
Trulli, expecting just because you win a race you're the
bee's knees.
- As Fernando always says, avoid Lewis Hamilton like the plague.
- If you have a driver on loan from another team this is a potential problem. You need to make sure that driver isn't going to be successful enough for their team to take them back. Try to end him.
Flav