McLaren Orders Piastri To Play Second Fiddle To Norris’ Title Challenge

Lando Norris is the number one driver at McLaren after the team said it would prioritise the Britain over teammate Oscar Piastri.

Norris is 62 points adrift of leader Max Verstappen in the drivers’ standings while the Australian lies fourth and is 106 points behind the Red Bull driver.

McLaren trails Red Bull by half a dozen points in the constructors’ championship and said Piastri would play a key role in their push to win both titles.

232 Points Up For Grabs

With eight races remaining in the season and 232 points still up for grabs, McLaren backs Norris over Piastri after allowing the duo to race each other. McLaren did however intervene at the Hungarian Grand Prix when a strategy call saw Norris take the lead from Piastri. Norris was ordered to hand the place back and the Australian won his maiden GP. 

Norris then lost more points to his teammate at Monza a fortnight ago when Piastri overtook his teammate who started on pole.

This weekend’s Azerbaijan GP will see the team enter new waters as they try to give Norris the best opportunity to stop Verstappen from claiming a fourth world title.

However, the team maintains it won’t favour Norris in a way that compromises the team’s principles according to the BBC. Team principal Andrea Stella says the orders must be fair to both drivers.

“We bias our support to Lando, but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles,” Stella was quoted by the BBC.

Stella also said Norris wants to win races or score more points than Piastri because he deserves it and is faster than his teammate. Piastri was on board with the team’s decision that came after discussions between senior team personnel the week after the Italian GP.

The 24-year-old had struggled to convert pole position starts into victories and started only fifth in Miami when he clinched his maiden win in the sport. By contrast, Piastri has kept a cool head

from the start, and his move on Norris in Monza was an example of his ruthlessness behind the wheel.

McLaren Favourites To Win Constructors’ Title

McLaren is in a better position to clinch the constuctors’ title from Red Bull as they only trail the Austrian team by six points.

Red Bull hasn’t won a race since the Spanish GP in late June and their loss of form has turned this season into one of the most exciting since 2021.

Stella knows if Norris and Piastri continue their rich reign of form, they’ll become champions.

“The team interests come 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, ” he said.

The Azerbaijan GP takes place this weekend in Baku, Listen to a preview of the race here.

Related Topicsbetting tipsCharles LeclercEditor's ChoiceFerrariFormula 1Lando NorrisLewis HamiltonMax VerstappenMcLarenMercedesPodcastRed BullSergio Perez

Sean Parker

Sean Parker is a motorsport journalist and sports content creator at The South African. He has worked for the country's premier motoring publications, and is a Formula 1 contributor to Bet.co.za, the Bet Central podcast, and Vision View Sports radio.