Norris Piastri to Heed Orders as Title Race Heats

Lando Norris seeks to solidify his lead role at McLaren, while potential team orders loom with Oscar Piastri.

Is Lando Norris the Undisputed Number One Driver at McLaren F1?

The recent Hungarian Grand Prix did not necessarily suggest so. Indeed, even though Lando Norris may be the only driver capable of defeating Max Verstappen for the world title, the British team decided to swap positions towards the end of the race, allowing Oscar Piastri to pass.

At Ferrari, for instance, it would have been hard to imagine Jean Todt issuing such a team order between Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher…

Leading Oscar Piastri by 40 points in the championship is not enough for Lando Norris. He himself acknowledges that he does not yet have that number one status.

“No, I must always earn it!”

“I must always go out there and drive faster than anyone else, I don’t think it changes anything, and I don’t know why suddenly you would have a bias towards a driver that you should favor.”

“We have never had a bias or a preference in the team, even if it might have seemed that way from the outside.”

But Lando Norris adds right after… that team orders could come in his favor, in the second half of the season, if indeed the world title is at stake.

“I have a chance to win the title all season, and we are only at the midpoint.”

“There is still a long way to go, so maybe a little later there will be discussions [about the number one spot], but we’ll see.”

Regarding the unfolding of the last Grand Prix at the Hungaroring, Lando Norris remains very sportsmanlike: with his missed start, and even though he had clinched a fantastic pole, the Brit did not deserve to win.

“It has nothing to do with last week, I should not have been leading that race.”

“I shouldn’t have been in front, Oscar passed me at the start, he controlled the race well, and that’s it.”

“People would never have felt that the team was favoring Lando, if Oscar had led the entire race. There’s no reason for them to suddenly ask him to let me pass if you think about it from a championship perspective.”

“I don’t know when, if I’m 10 or 15 points behind, we can say: ‘Can you help me out a bit more? Can you do this or that?'”

“It’s not my decision, but Oscar led the entire race, controlled it well, and from a strategy perspective, they pitted me first to play it safe (relative to Lewis Hamilton).”

“It gave the impression of something completely different, but it shouldn’t be that way. We know it isn’t the case, Oscar deserved to win, he did, and it’s as simple as that.”

Piastri is open to team orders… but later

From the other side of the garage, Oscar Piastri is on the same page as Lando Norris: there was no need to let Norris win in Hungary. And there’s no need to designate a number one at the moment.

“No, I don’t think that should happen. I think we’re only halfway through the season, there’s still a long way to go. I think the decisions we made in Budapest showed that, from the team’s perspective, it’s important to maintain a strong relationship, continue to build the team, and ultimately score as many points as possible for the constructors.”

“As I said, if Lando was in a position to win the championship and they asked me to help him, then I would do it. But I think halfway through the season, with so many points still in play, for me too, it’s still very early for that.”

But the Australian is ready to follow team orders later in the season.

“We’re still very early in the season, and I’m far behind in the drivers’ standings, behind Max, but I’m not out of it yet.”

“It doesn’t take many races to find yourself in the same position as Lando. Let’s see how it goes.”

“If they need me to be a team player and try to help Lando, then of course I’ll do it. But I think the most important thing is to try to score the most points of all the teams and win the constructors’ championship.”

“I think that’s certainly the biggest opportunity we have and we’ll see if that happens as well.”