Why McLaren’s half-baked team orders solution will invite more confusion

Oscar Piastri is willing to give up Formula 1 race victories to Lando Norris. Except, it won’t come to that.

Norris is thankful McLaren is now showing “bias” towards him in the 2024 world championship but doesn’t want to be “given” the title.

The intra-McLaren Monza battle can happen again, but not exactly as it did in Italy.

McLaren’s Baku weekend began exactly how Monza ended: focused on its confusing team orders approach amid Norris’s attempt to overhaul Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the 2024 title battle.

Team boss Andrea Stella explained that from this weekend, McLaren will show “bias” in its “support to Lando”. There was, however, a note of confusion in his statement regarding how the new approach “will be updated after Baku”.

Autosport discovered in the Baku paddock that this meant the current team orders only apply on a case-by-case basis and that they would likely be revoked if Norris were to lose considerable ground to Verstappen at this event.

Autosport understands that the “bias” Stella references also means that when McLaren introduces upgrades to the end of the season, if there is only one set of parts available, it will be added to Norris’s MCL38 first given the points situation.

Norris then clarified Piastri is only expected to move aside “for lower positions”, that, actually his team-mate wouldn’t be pulling over if they ran 1-2, and stated that if Piastri has “fought for a win and he’s deserving of a win, then he deserves to win”.

Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1 Team

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Specifically, Norris later revealed, “something like Monza, that second or third, where it would have been swapped around”, which means from now on if the orange two cars are line astern and no victory possible, Piastri would indeed hand Norris an extra place.

There were also revealing Norris answers on how McLaren had “resolved”, per his word, Piastri’s attack at the Monza start.

“We had the biggest gap in the world going into the corner,” Norris added of this. “So, I think not ideal in my world, but also for us as a team, that’s not how we should have gone racing there.

“I think clearer instructions of how we can race each other and how much we can risk with one another [have been issued].”

Autosport had heard suggestions that Piastri’s camp wasn’t overly enthused about how Stella’s interview had been released as the Baku media event began, but when asked if he was happy with how the team orders revelation, plus the new approach overall, had been communicated, he stuck to the script.

“Being selfish, I would prefer to not have it, but I am very aware it is not all about me and I’m happy to play a supporting role at this point in the season.”

His concluding line – “I think any earlier in the season it would have probably been excessive, but I think now it is an appropriate time to try and help the team win both championships” – was most revealing.

Again, there were contradictions on the Monza pass, with Piastri saying, “in those circumstances what I did was fine”, before adding, “it was purely just that the result out of the corner was not exactly what we wanted”.

Pressed on if he’d be allowed to make an identical move in the same circumstances again this season, Piastri revealed, “in those exact same scenarios some things would be different”.

There are several strands. The first is how subterfuge and distraction are regular tactics in the F1 paddock. It could easily be that McLaren has made things clear to its drivers behind closed doors, but is allowing the confusion to bubble out into the paddock to release some of the intense focus on the squad. 

Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Strategically, it makes sense to try and keep rivals guessing when it comes to what might happen in live situations on track. Stella is very hot on this. And rightfully so.

It’s also clear just how much Norris doesn’t want to win a world title accompanied by a “with wins gifted from his team-mate” asterisk.

“I’m sure it will hurt,” Norris had said when asked about the possibility of coming up a few points short in the Abu Dhabi season finale. “But I don’t know. I’m also here to race. And if a driver is doing better than me and performing, I need to do a better job.

“So, I wouldn’t want to take that away from someone. And I also don’t want to be given a championship. Yes, it would be great to have a championship, and short-term, you feel amazing, but I don’t think you’d be proud of that in the long run.”

Fine principles, which recall the gentlemanly ethos of the early years of the world championship.

But let’s remember how Stirling Moss spoke up on behalf of Mike Hawthorn at the 1958 Portuguese GP and helped him avoid a penalty and preserve six points for second place, only to lose the title to his compatriot by one point. Famously, Moss never clinched the F1 world title.

This is pertinent because what if this is Norris’s only chance to win a title? We can’t know if it will be right now, but even reasonably safe in the knowledge that McLaren will start 2025 as a clear frontrunner, at that point, Piastri’s points will be reset to zero as well.

He could well be as big a rival to Norris going forward than just Verstappen. That’s in addition to the coming superteam of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, plus Mercedes’ home-grown talent and the current close, multi-team scraps for F1 glory.

In many ways, how McLaren explained itself yesterday is perfectly acceptable. But if the ambiguity of several elements of those messages is replicated in the team’s coming strategy calls this weekend, it surely only leaves it open to risk messing them up.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Even if this is just a deliberate ploy, it just feels like McLaren is trying to be half-pregnant. Ultimately, you just can’t be. And F1’s ruthless historical team orders examples stand out precisely because they eliminate confusion that can be harmful for a team seeking the maximum possible result.

The pressure is huge on McLaren right now, which is why it’s intriguing that Stella’s media offerings have been reduced in Baku, with his Saturday press session cancelled.

McLaren must be perfect, where Verstappen’s 62-point buffer and present predicament with his car package means he can focus solely on getting the maximum result Red Bull can achieve – however high up the order that may be.

The pressure will build later for the world champion if he continues to see his lead chipped, but it’s currently on McLaren with unabating intensity.