Oscar Piastri Asked if He Will Let Lando Norris Pass Through at Abu Dhabi GP

Oscar Piastri was visibly uncomfortable after a reporter asked whether he would help McLaren teammate Lando Norris win the world championship at this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

It is the most exciting finale to an F1 season in years.

Ahead of the race at Yas Marina on Sunday, Lando Norris leads Red Bull's Max Verstappen by 12 points, while Oscar Piastri sits four points further back.

Norris will be crowned world champion for the first time if he secures a podium finish. Verstappen, meanwhile, will defend his crown if he wins the race and Norris finishes lower than third place.

Piastri's chances are slim. He needs to score 17 more points than Norris and five more points than Verstappen to guarantee the title but ultimately, all three can win the title.

Of course, Norris is the title favourite coming into the race in Abu Dhabi, although a scenario could arise where he needs Piastri's help to secure the championship.

But the question remains – would Piastri let his teammate through and overtake if needs be? That scenario was posed to the pair by Sky Sports reporter Rachel Brookes at Thursday's press conference.

Brookes asked: “Is there a scenario where you are in the final laps at the race, and you’re running in P4 and Oscar in P3 and Max is leading... Is there a scenario where you would expect or even want him to make it easy for you to pass if he is out of contention? Has that been discussed at all?"

"No, that hasn't been discussed," admitted Norris. "Honestly, I would love it. But I don't think I would ask it because... I don't know. I don't know. It's up to Oscar if he would allow it."

"I don't think it's necessarily down to me," he continued. "It's the same if it was the other way around. Would I be willing or not? Personally, I think I would because I feel like I'm always like that and that's just how I am. It's not really up to me.

"I don't want to ask it because I don't think it's necessarily a fair question," added Norris. "If that's how it ends and Max wins, then, that's it. Congrats to him and we look forward to next year. It doesn't change anything. It doesn’t change my life. He would deserve it over us."

The same question was then posed to Piastri.

"Rachel asked it to Lando," he laughed. "It is not something we have discussed. Until I know what's kind of expected, I don't have an answer until I know what is expected of me."

Although he didn't rule out helping his colleague, it was an awkward exchange that featured several awkward pauses.

Mercedes driver George Russell, meanwhile, believes it wouldn't be "acceptable or reasonable" for Piastri to be asked to help his McLaren teammate win the world championship.

"I don't think it's acceptable or reasonable to ask a driver who's also in with a shot of a championship in the very last race to move over for your team-mate," he said.

"I think if it were, in other seasons gone by - let's just say Checo (Sergio Perez) and Max, or (Rubens) Barrichello and (Michael) Schumacher - when clearly one driver is the one going for the championship, and if in the last race, the guy who doesn't have a shot of winning the championship moves over, that is absolutely reasonable, and I think every single driver would do that."

"But for me, I don't think it would be fair at all," added Russell. "I think they both need to be given a shot. And if they lose out because of it, you just need to say the other guy did a better job, and that's racing. That's how it should be."