Oscar Piastri has opened up on being ordered by McLaren to help team-mate Lando Norris in his bid to win the 2024 F1 title.
Team principal Andrea Stella has admitted that the team are set to prioritise Norris as he looks to overhaul a 62-point gap to championship leader Max Verstappen with eight races remaining. Piastri meanwhile, lies fourth, 44 points worse off than his team-mate with his own title aspirations essentially over.
And ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the Australian has now admitted that what’s been put to him is not a “simple thing” to agree to.
“The team have asked me to help out and look, I’ve said it for the last few races that if I was asked then I would,” he said. “Naturally as a driver it’s never an easy thing or simple thing to agree to, but there’s a much bigger picture at play than just myself.
“I’m still coming out here (to Baku) to try and achieve the best results that I can and put myself in a good position to score a lot of points for myself and also the team. But, I know if there’s some ways of helping the points for Lando then I’ll do that.”
The issue of team orders has already divided opinion at McLaren this season, following Piastri’s maiden F1 win in Hungary. The 23-year-old had led for the majority of the race but a premature pit stop inadvertently handed Norris the lead.
Norris, 24, was repeatedly asked over team radio to slow and let Piastri back past, but initially refused to do so. But after frequent warnings from engineer Will Joseph, he eventually yielded with two laps to go and later claimed he always intended to adhere to orders.
On Thursday morning, Stella had insisted that team would pursue the drivers’ title for Norris, but will do with respect to Piastri. The team have not won the championship since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
“We will bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles,” Stella told BBC Sport. “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.”
As well as the individual ambitions of Norris, McLaren are also eying the opportunity to win the Constructors’ title. The British outfit now trail Red Bull by just eight points, and currently appear superior in pace to Max Verstappen and co.
Their last team crown came in 1998, when David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen were the driver pairing. The latter also won the first of his two consecutive world championships that season.
