McLaren hand Piastri ‘investment’ reminder in team orders saga

Andrea Stella has told Oscar Piastri that helping Lando Norris to win the 2024 F1 drivers’ championship would be an “investment” in his own future. 

Norris is the closest challenger to Max Verstappen in the standings, 62 points behind with eight races remaining, with McLaren enjoying the fastest car on the grid as Red Bull struggles for pace and form. 

During the recent Italian GP, Norris started on pole with Piastri second and Verstappen down in seventh, but even after the adoption of ‘papaya rules’, Piastri overtook Norris on lap 1 at Turn 4, as the duo went onto finish second and third behind Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen finished sixth, earning eight points, with Norris only taking eight out of the sizeable deficit on a day he could have taken 20 out of the Red Bull driver had he won with the fastest lap. 

In the aftermath of the race, Stella indicated that Norris would be favoured by McLaren in the remaining races in the title chase, with the Italian believing a Norris championship would also prove beneficial to Piastri’s career.

“I think if the things we say [to Oscar] are sensible and according to the principles like fairness, because if you support your team-mate in winning the championship, it is a big boost [then he will react well],” Stella explained when asked by RacingNews365 how the Australian would take being told to follow team orders.

“It is a benefit, a big boost for the whole team, even if he is the other driver because we can’t forget that Oscar is in the middle of his second season in Formula 1.

“The future is Oscar, and he needs to make sure that when it is the time to support, the support he will give to the team or to Lando is an investment.”

McLaren’s racing ethos

As a result of the Turn 4 move, Leclerc was able to slip ahead of Norris to run second, but even if this had not happened and Norris was still second at Monza, Stella indicated that the team still might not have waved Norris by to reassume the lead.

“I don’t want to be specific, because ultimately, the way you go racing, the conversations and agreements you have with your drivers, they are part of your IP,” he said.

“We want to be open, we want to be transparent, give everyone some sort of understanding of what is going on, but we want to retain some sort of confidentiality for ourselves.

“I think I’ve given enough of the sense of how these rules are generated, because we want to retain integrity and fairness in the way we go racing. 

“We want to apply common sense, but at the same time, we definitely want to be first in both world championships.”