Team orders

In motor racing, team orders is a motorsport term for the practice of teams issuing instructions to drivers to deviate from the normal practice of racing against each other as they would against other teams' drivers. This can be accomplished either in advance, simply by establishing a pecking order between the two drivers within the team, or instructing a driver to let his teammate overtake or to hold position without the risk of collision.

This is generally done when one driver is behind in a particular race but ahead overall in a championship season. The team will then order their drivers to rearrange themselves on the track so as to give more championship points to the driver who is ahead in the championship. Another reason for team orders is where both drivers are in a position far ahead of the field, being all but assured of the win. Team orders are issued to prevent the drivers from racing each other; the aim is to have them drive cautiously to save fuel, reduce the chance of mechanical problems, and avoid a collision. This has happened on countless occasions in the history of the sport, sometimes causing great acrimony between the team and the second-placed driver.

Damon Hill: I'm going to put something to you here, and I think you'd better listen to this.
If we race, if we two race, we could end up with nothing, so it's up to Eddie (Jordan).
If we don't race each other, we've got an opportunity to get a first and second, it's your choice.

Such orders were legal and accepted historically in motor racing. In the early years of the Formula One World Championship it was even legal for a driver to give up his car during the race to the team leader if his car had broken down. In 1955 the Mercedes team asked Juan Manuel Fangio to let his teammate Stirling Moss win his home grand prix at Silverstone. Fangio obliged, refusing to attack Moss in the closing stages of the race and coming home in second place, less than a second behind Moss. The 1964 season saw a dramatic finale in which Lorenzo Bandini moved over to John Surtees during the Mexican Grand Prix, allowing Surtees to get the necessary points to beat Graham Hill to the World Championship.

...
Wikipedia