McLaren team boss Andrea Stella says Oscar Piastri has agreed to back Lando Norris‘s bid to win the 2024 Formula 1 world championship, following the squad’s post-Monza team orders discussions.
The situation will only apply in specific circumstances and is part of McLaren’s bid to avoid the intra-team fighting that was so costly early in the last race in Italy.
Norris has been Max Verstappen‘s closest rival in the 2024 standings since June’s Spanish Grand Prix after the Dutchman had dominated the early part of the season before McLaren improved its car and a series of upgrades knocked Red Bull off course with its own challenger.
The gap between the two teams in the constructors’ is down to just eight points.
But, despite having arguably F1’s best car for several races, which he used to win commandingly with new upgrades at the Dutch GP post-summer break, Norris has not cut Verstappen’s advantage as much as he might have done.
On two occasions this has been due to Piastri attacking at moments when both McLaren drivers had chances to win.
These were the starts of the Hungarian and Italian races, where McLaren locked out the front row both times and Piastri fought his way by to lead each race when Norris had started on pole.
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, 2nd position, Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, 1st position, Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1 Team, the McLaren team celebrate victory after the race
Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images
Last time out at Monza, Piastri attacking Norris at the second chicane on lap one meant his team-mate dropped behind Charles Leclerc, which eventually meant Ferrari‘s one-stop strategy cost both McLarens a victory shot.
McLaren therefore left Monza vowing to review what had occurred in relation to its championship bids and now in an interview with the BBC ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan GP, Stella has revealed the results of these discussions mean McLaren is officially giving “bias” in “our support to Lando”.
“But we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles,” he added. “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.
“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.
“The team’s interests come first and these are the…
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