McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has announced that the team will prioritize Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri for the 2024 Formula 1 season in the pursuit of both championships.
McLaren’s reluctance to issue team orders was criticized after it led to a missed race victory in Monza. During the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, McLaren held the lead, but Oscar Piastri’s early overtake on Lando Norris allowed Charles Leclerc to split them and ultimately win the race.
Norris is 62 points behind Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship, while Piastri trails Norris by 44 points with eight races left in the season. Despite the significant gap between the two, Red Bull’s declining performance has made McLaren’s chances of winning both championships more likely.
Acknowledging this situation after the race, Stella announced that Norris would now receive more support as he chases his first Drivers’ Championship.
Speaking to the BBC, Stella said, “The general concept is that we are extremely determined to win, but we want to win the right way.”
“We will support Lando, but we want to do this without compromising too much on our principles.”
“Our principles are that team interests always come first. Sportsmanship is important to us in the way we race overall. We also want to be fair to both drivers,” he said.
Stella noted that Piastri’s aggressive pass on his teammate at Monza, which jeopardized the team’s result, contributed to the decision to prioritize Norris.
“What we no longer want to see is a situation like Monza, where we entered 1st and 2nd and came out 2nd and 3rd.”
“Because that harms the team.”
“The team’s interests come first, and these are the situations we need to fix above all. Because in the end, the way we approached the race in Monza left us open to that situation.”
“After Monza, we have three goals: We must ensure that nothing on track harms the team…”
“The second goal is figuring out how we can win both championships, with both drivers committed to helping.”
“But what we don’t want to do is win recklessly. These are the three main points, and they dictate how we will race in Baku. These will be updated after Baku,” he explained.
Stella said discussions with Piastri resulted in the Australian being willing to sacrifice victories if it meant helping Norris gain extra points.
“The conversations have been very collaborative.”
“Even when I asked Oscar, ‘Are you ready to give up a win?’ he said, ‘It’s painful, but if that’s the right thing to do right now, I will do it.'”
“Every driver has the desire to win. So, the level of team spirit, maturity, and cooperation we’ve seen during this period has always impressed me.”
Stella did not give specific details on how McLaren’s principles would work in practice but explained that each scenario would be considered individually.
He emphasized that Norris agreed with McLaren’s desire not to push Piastri into a clear second driver role and to avoid compromising results.
Stella also highlighted that Norris does not want his teammate to be used as a constant second driver. Norris expressed that he wants to win by earning it and emphasized that maintaining stability and harmony within the team is more important for future success.
