After facing weeks of criticism, McLaren has decided that, actually, it will use team orders to support Lando Norris’s title moonshot, after all.
The team has admirably let both its drivers race freely this season, although that stance has been under intense pressure ever since it became clear that Lando was the only driver on the grid with even a vague hope of reeling in Max Verstappen.
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And the calls to give Norris its full support—including from the Brit himself—have only gotten louder lately as Red Bull’s form has gone backwards: The reigning champ hasn’t won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix, and the team is struggling with balance issues that already look set to cost it the constructors’ championship.
The first real flashpoint came at the Hungarian Grand Prix when McLaren insisted that Norris hand the lead back to Oscar Piastri, having only gotten it after being allowed to pit before the Aussie. He eventually obeyed, and Oscar duly logged his first Formula 1 win.
And the second arose in Italy a fortnight ago, when Piastri’s brilliant overtake on the opening lap dropped Norris from P1 to P3...and eventually cost both cars the win. Oops.
But in an interview with BBC Sport, team boss Andrea Stella now says McLaren will “bias” its support towards Lando and that Oscar had agreed to sacrifice his own chances when required.
Norris is 62 points behind Verstappen with eight races to go; McLaren trails Red Bull by only eight points in the constructors’ championship, but Ferrari is only 31 points further back. Think it can win both titles?
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
