McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has confirmed the team will prioritise Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri from this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Norris enters the weekend 63 points behind F1 championship leader Max Verstappen on a track expected to suit the McLaren over the Red Bull.
Piastri lies fourth in the championship, 106 points off Verstappen with eight races remaining.
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While still in mathematical contention, Piastri would need a huge amount of luck and results to go his way. Norris can realistically chase down Verstappen with on-track results alone.
The team had, to this point, preferred to stick with their preferred method of operation – which is to leave its drivers to sort it out on track.
But in Monza, Piastri’s move around the outside at the second chicane on the opening lap undoubtedly cost the team points.
Speaking to the BBC in Baku, Stella confirmed the team would be favouring Norris in his hunt for the drivers’ title.
“The overall concept is we are incredibly determined to win, but we want to win in the right way,” he said.
“We [will] bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles.
“Our principles are that the team interest always comes first. Sportsmanship for us is important in the overall way we go racing. And then we want to be fair to both drivers.”
While most teams have a clearly defined No.1 and No.2 driver, McLaren has traditionally given both drivers equal footing, even going back to the days of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
In Monza last time out, it meant Piastri, who got a better run out of the first chicane than his teammate, was able to get past Norris. It was a spectacular move, and one that no doubt sent a message not only to Norris, but also to the team that the Aussie was more than up to the job.
But as good as the move was, Stella acknowledged it came as a “detriment” to the team.
“What we don’t want to see any more is a situation like in Monza in which we enter a chicane P1/P2 and we exit P1/P3. Because that is a detriment to the team,” he said.
“The team interests comes first and these are the situations that above all we need to fix because eventually, as a matter of fact, the way we entered the race in Monza left the door open this situation.
“After Monza, three objectives: we need to make sure that anything that happens on track is not to the detriment of the team.
“Second objective, how do we win both championships, both drivers committed to help?
“But what we don’t want to do is win in a reckless way.
“Those are the three topics and they define the way we go racing in Baku. This will be updated after Baku.”
Stella said Piastri was on board with the decision, but admitted it would be “painful”.
”The conversations have been very collaborative,” he said.
“Even when I said to Oscar: ‘Would you be available to give up a victory?’; He said: ‘It’s painful, but if it’s the right thing to do now, I will do it’.
“Every driver is hard-wired to go for a victory. So I am always very impressed by the level of team spirit and maturity and collaboration that we found in this period.”
If Norris were to lead successive McLaren one-twos with Verstappen third, Norris would take the lead of the championship in Las Vegas, the third-last race of the season.
The minimum the Brit needs to do to win the title is outscore Verstappen by eight points in every race. That’s the difference from first to second if Norris were to win with the fastest lap of the race.
Piastri, however, would to outscore Verstappen by 13 points in every race – the gap from first to fourth. He also needs to outscore Norris by six points, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by three points.
Given Red Bull’s plummeting form – they were comfortably the fourth-fastest car in Monza – even finishing third would be a challenge for Verstappen. McLaren meanwhile appear to have the fastest car and should take the lead in the constructors’ championship this weekend.
It will be the first time since the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix Red Bull have not led the title.
Practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix begins Friday evening. The race will start at 9pm Sunday (AEST).