As the gap to Red Bull closes, McLaren are determined to bring Lando closer to championship leader Max Verstappen. With Norris at a points advantage from Piastri, it is detrimental that the team maximise their points opportunity; unfortunately, this has been at the expense of their second driver.
In recent races, the McLaren team have shown true dominance, ending Red Bull’s long streak of blistering pace. With the bulls falling behind, the papaya team have jumped at the opportunity to climb the championship ladder in both driver’s and constructor’s titles. Team principal Andrea Stella has made it clear that although they are using their best efforts to back Lando and maximise his points scoring, it will be done with fairness and sportmanship in mind. In an interview with BBC sport, Stella said “The overall concept is we are incredibly determined to win, but we want to win in the right way.”
Where McLaren stand now:
Going into the historical streets of Baku this weekend, there are still 232 points up for grabs for the remainder of the season with Max Verstappen sitting at a comfortable 62 points ahead of Lando Norris in this drivers championship. However, the constructor’s championship holds a much smaller gap between the top two at just eight points; Oscar Piastri sits at P4 in the championship with 102 points meaning he is at a points disadvantage from Norris. Previously, the team had allowed the drivers to race each other in past races however with both McLaren’s points and the stakes ramping up, the team have set their priorities straight and are asking Oscar Piastri to provide a support role to maximise Lando Norris’ point scoring. We have seen this dynamic before with driver pairings such as Valtteri Bottas supporting Lewis Hamilton’s past championship. However, there are instances where these team orders have gone south; the famous ‘Mutli-21’ being an example of this after Sebastian Vettel refused to hold position behind teammate Mark Webber – Vettel went on to take the win, but with a lot of backlash from the team.
After the close battle between Norris and Piastri in Monza, the team decided to revise their strategy to attack the championship standings. Stella said the race position loss after the wheel to wheel racing between the drivers was a “detriment to the team” stating that “the team interests come first”.
How has Oscar responded?
According to reports from the team principal, Piastri appears to have been very compliant with these suggestions; while we are sure the Australian driver would like to secure more victories under his belt, his dedication to the McLaren team has really shown with his compliance to these suggestions regarding backing Norris.