How McLaren plan to convince Piastri to help Norris win the F1 Championship
F1 News
Oscar Piastri's race engineer, Tom Stallard, has revealed some details surrounding McLaren's internal discussion about favouring Lando Norris in his battle against Max Verstappen in the Drivers' World Championship ahead of the United States Grand Prix. Stallard reiterates that everyone within McLaren, including Piastri, wants the best outcome for the whole team. He also reveals his message to Piastri.
McLaren took the lead in the Constructors' Championship after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It would only be a small lead, but Sergio Perez's crash with Carlos Sainz meant Red Bull lost a chunk of points. With Norris' win in Singapore and Piastri's podium, the Woking-based team were then able to open up a 41-point lead with six race weekends remaining.
Given the run of form before the break for both McLaren and Red Bull, the British team are favourites to stay ahead when the chequered flag drops in Abu Dhabi. But that isn't necessarily the feeling inside the McLaren garage. "I know you [the interviewer] said we're sitting pretty in the Constructors' Championship. It never feels like that on the inside," Stallard said on the Beyond the Grid podcast before highlighting that Red Bull and often Mercedes and Ferrari are strong. "So we've got a lot of work to do just to sew that up," he added.
How will McLaren try to convince Piastri to help Norris?
Norris is the lead McLaren driver in the Drivers' World Championship but he faces a 52-point deficit to Max Verstappen. The Dutchman is still managing to secure podiums, so McLaren have their work cut out. Many former drivers and pundits, including Jenson Button, believe the team need to be stronger with team orders. Team boss Andrea Stella has previously indicated this will happen. Stallard has explained how he would talk to Piastri about helping Norris.
"As a team, we want to win both, and the team includes both drivers. The other thing I would say, if you're a driver who thinks you're going to win Drivers' Championships, you want to be in a team that will support you to do that. If you are not prepared to help the team achieve that when it's the other guy, how do you expect a team to treat you when it's you the next time? Not that there has to be a tip for tat within that, but simply that there have been plenty of examples of Formula 1 teams where the two drivers just rip strips off each other for the whole season, and then at the end of it Kimi Räikkönen wins," Stallard added, alluding to the internal McLaren battle between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in 2007.
"I think that from that point of view, Oscar has been very, very positive in his support for the team and willingness to support the team in what needs to happen. He's looking at the long game and genuinely he wants his team to win," Stallard concluded.
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