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The moment has arrived: McLaren asks Piastri to help Norris' title fight
- Corwin Kunst
With Red Bull's lead disappearing at the front, McLaren now have clear ambitions to fight for the drivers' title with Lando Norris. That, however, also means that if needed, the team would have to ask Oscar Piastri to help out his teammate when possible. Could we see team orders already in Baku this upcoming weekend?
With eight Grands Prix to go (including three sprints), Norris' gap to Max Verstappen stands at 62 points. Even Piastri himself has an outside shot if results go his way, but the Australian is in P4 of the standings with a 86-point gap behind the Dutchman. Still, McLaren are now putting all eggs in one basket with supporting Norris now.
"We [will] bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles," Stella told the BBC. "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," the Italian explained
Can't repeat Monza
From Baku onwards, the team principal does not want to see situations like what happened in Monza on Lap 1, when Piastri, running in second position, attacked leader Norris into Turn 4. As a result of that maneouvre, in the latter fell back to P3. "That is a detriment to the team," he added. What Oscar Piastri would actually do in this situation, could only be found out on the track starting from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Co-Author: Corwin Kunst
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16 September 2024
