McLaren team principal Andrea Stella insists his team will act with “integrity and fairness” as they consider whether to prioritise Lando Norris’ championship bid over the rest of the season.
Norris is the closest driver to championship leader Max Verstappen entering the final ten rounds of the 2024 season.
With McLaren having scored more points than any team over the last five rounds, including a one-two victory in Hungary, the team have brought their biggest upgrade package since Miami to this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
Before the summer break began, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said the team would discuss whether they should prioritise their leading driver in the championship. However Stella said the team will continue to treat Norris and Piastri equally for now.
“When it comes to this conversation about being the number one, I don’t think that’s a good way of approaching racing,” Stella explained. “For us, we’d rather approach racing from fairness, integrity and then see what comes from this kind of approach.
“It’s 10 races to go. I think Lando, to realistically be in condition to chase the world championship, needs to keep performing at a very high level, he needs to keep being fast, and then you gain your ranks on track.
“If you gain your ranks, if you gain your merits on track by being fast, by being competitive, then we will evaluate – always led by integrity and fairness – whether in some occasions we need the team to take a certain direction in a 50-50 decision, or if we want to have a conversation with Oscar and say ‘Oscar, would you be available to do this to support Lando chasing the world championship?’.”
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Norris was told to allow Piastri to pass him to win the Hungarian Grand Prix last month, after McLaren unintentionally swapped the running order of their drivers during their final pit stops. Stella said any decision to impose a running order on their drivers would be clarified beforehand.
“It always has to be a conversation before the race,” he said. “Nobody should be surprised. We all should be in agreement, because ultimately we chase and we are in the quest for a drivers’ world championship as a team. There’s nobody that goes his own way and then the others will have to follow. So that’s our style.
“I don’t think it can be necessarily and simply summarised in ‘we elect a number one and then we work…
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