McLaren Make Last-Minute U-Turn on Oscar Piastri Team Orders as Statement Issued
McLaren have changed their mind about giving Oscar Piastri team orders to ensure Lando Norris wins the Formula One title.
On Sunday, the 2025 Formula One season will come to an end with a title-deciding showdown at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Three drivers remain in contention for the Drivers' Championship as McLaren teammates Norris and Piastri compete with reigning champion Max Verstappen following the Red Bull driver's spectacular comeback.
With Norris a firm favourite to be crowned champion and Piastri only holding a small outside chance of seizing the title from third in the standings, many have asked if McLaren could ask the Australian driver to give up his chances of winning the title to help his teammate.
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Throughout the season, McLaren boss Zak Brown has insisted that they would never prioritise one driver over the other, but ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it appears he may have changed his mind.
If Norris is to claim his maiden Formula One championship, all he needs to do in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is finish on the podium, even if both Verstappen and Piastri finish ahead of him.
Meanwhile, Piastri's most likely scenario to the championship would be winning the race with Norris finishing all the way down in P6.
Ahead of the race, many fans have questioned how McLaren would react if, in the final moments of the race, Verstappen was winning with Piastri in P2 or P3 ahead of Norris.
In this situation, Piastri would need a miracle to win the title and could slow down to let Norris pass, securing Norris as the champion while giving up his own title hopes.
When asked if McLaren would make such a demand, McLaren Racing chief executive officer Brown assured that they will do all that they can to win the Drivers' championship.
He said: "Yes, of course. We're realistic. We want to win this Drivers' Championship.
"We're coming into the weekend knowing that they both have equal opportunity, even though there's obviously a point spread.
"If we get into the race and it's becoming pretty clear that one has a chance and the other doesn't, we're going to do what we can to win the Drivers' Championship. It would be crazy not to.
"It's a team sport, right? So, we're trying to win the constructors' (title) as a team, and we're trying to win the drivers' as a team."
Brown's comments come just weeks after he claimed that he would rather McLaren miss out on the Drivers' Championship than compromise on their values on not prioritising either of their drivers.
“If Max is the champion at the end of the year, for us the important thing is that we can say we have done our best and we have done our best according to the way we go racing,” he told the Beyond The Grid podcast in November.
“If Max wins this year, we say, ‘We’re going to win next year, we’re going to be there, and we are going to be there united as we are’.”
As for the drivers themselves, Norris claimed that he wouldn't ask for help from his team-mate but would "love" to receive it when asked about the possibility of team orders at the drivers' press conference ahead of the race.
Meanwhile, Piastri said that the team had not yet discussed the possibility, and that he therefore refused to give an answer until he was told what was expected of him.
Topics: Formula 1, McLaren, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri
Ben McCrum