Mika Hakkinen believes Ferrari need to "forget about team orders"

Mika Hakkinen has said that Ferrari have the car and the drivers to be competitive this season but they are making too many mistakes. The Formula 1 legend believes that Ferrari need to forget about team orders and instead focus on trying to beat Mercedes. 

"Vettel and Leclerc have the potential to be the strongest competition to Mercedes every weekend," Hakkinen said in his Unibet article. "But they need to give the drivers the support, flexibility and focus to do that. Forget about team orders, concentrate on the team winning.

"Three races into 2019 and, in spite of Ferrari having the strongest engine and a good package, Mercedes continues to dominate. The mistakes of the other teams are helping them, and we must hope that Ferrari and Red Bull Racing can deliver a more consistent challenge in the races ahead.

"Charles Leclerc is Formula 1’s ‘man of the moment’ and, after suffering the frustration of losing the win in Bahrain due to technical failure followed by the team orders in China, he will be pushing hard for victory. He finished last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in sixth place for Sauber, and in 2017 he qualified on pole position for the GP2 race and won the Feature Race.

"As a result, while Vettel and 2018 winner Hamilton will definitely be going for the win, I think their teammates Leclerc and Bottas will provide us with a lot of excitement."

It will be an interesting season to see how the two 'second drivers' at the top teams get on this season as so far they have looked equally as fast as their teammates.