Piastri accepts McLaren team orders but says he’s still free to race Norris

Oscar Piastri is ready to look at the “bigger picture” and help Lando Norris in his Formula 1 drivers’ title fight but insists he will not be simply pulling aside to let his McLaren team-mate past.

Team boss Andrea Stella confirmed on Thursday that, heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend, Piastri had agreed to back Norris as he looks to hunt down Max Verstappen – but only in specific circumstances.

Discussions were held after Piastri passed Norris for the lead on the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix last time out, with the pair ultimately losing out on victory to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Piastri had previously insisted he had to consider his own dwindling title ambitions rather than think about supporting Norris, but now concedes he will do what is best as McLaren chases glory in both championships.

“It has obviously been something we have discussed a lot in the last few days, selfishly as a driver in my own interests, of course, team orders are not that fun but in saying that I realise there is a much bigger picture here than just myself,” he told Autosport.

“I race for a team that has given me my opportunity in F1 and given me the opportunity to win races in Formula 1 within 18 months of being here, so I have a lot of gratitude for that but again the bigger picture is about much more than just me. We are trying to achieve both championships which for the team is an incredibly big thing.

“Of course, the constructors’ is one thing but if you have the opportunity to win both championships in a year then as a team it is a massive objective to try and win both.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

“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, 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.”

Piastri insists rules have not been put in place at McLaren and he will still be free to fight for wins unless the situation calls for it.

“It still needs some more discussion, but I think the main point is it is not just me pulling over for Lando at every single race, that is how none of us – including Lando – want to go racing. Trying to go through all the scenarios is impossible and of course we don’t want to discuss that publicly,” he said.

“The main one is that if we feel that someone has done a much better job on a weekend, whichever way it is, we want that person to be rewarded and that is of course where it becomes a bit tricky still and we need to continue discussing that.

“But it is not simply a blanket ‘I’m going to be behind Lando in every single race’ and every decision that is taken here on out because I still have things that I want to achieve in the championship and try to boost my standing in the championship.”

Piastri, however, did admit his move into turn four at Monza would have fallen foul of the new agreement that is now in place.

He squeezed past Norris, leaving his team-mate open to also fall behind Leclerc in the process in an overtake which may now contravene McLaren’s ‘Papaya Rules’ moving forward.

“In those exact same scenarios some things would be different,” added the Australian.

“In those circumstances what I did was fine. I thought it was a good move and of course, the consequence of coming out of the corner in first and third is not what we want as a team.

“Of course, it takes both of our co-operation to make sure that result doesn’t happen again but in those circumstances it was all by the book, there was nothing wrong with that, but it was purely just that the result out of the corner was not exactly what we wanted.

“In saying that, the result at the end of the race in my opinion wasn’t dictated because of that, it was because Ferrari pulled off a big gamble on strategy and without that with Charles, we would have still finished first and second.”