Mercedes not ruling out team orders

With Michael Schumacher succumbing to yet more bad luck, Mercedes is not ruling out team orders.

The seven time world champion’s pole celebrations in Monaco became just sixth on the grid due to the Barcelona grid penalty, and he had to retire from the race with a fuel pressure problem.

"I’ve never seen such bad luck as Michael is having," triple world champion Niki Lauda told Bild newspaper.

Indeed, he still has just 2 points in the bag after displaying solid performance so far in 2012 after six races.

Teammate Nico Rosberg, meanwhile, is right in the hunt, just 17 points off the championship lead with his tally of 59 points and another podium on Sunday.

So, with almost a third of the season now gone and Schumacher so far behind, what will Mercedes do if Schumacher is ahead of Rosberg in the points in the near future?

"We will cross that bridge when we come to it," Norbert Haug is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

"I don’t think we would give any orders. But I also think that our drivers know what to do."

Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali was also asked about team orders on Sunday, including why the team didn’t time one of Felipe Massa’s pitstops in order to boost Fernando Alonso’s victory chances by delaying his rivals behind the Brazilian.

"If we had done that," the Italian argued, "we could have ruined Felipe’s race and he has been strong all weekend.

"The most important thing for him now is to build his confidence back up."