Opinion
Why McLaren should be putting Norris ahead of Piastri
By Luke Slater
What the first two races since the summer break have shown is that McLaren now have a realistic chance of winning both the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ championship with Lando Norris.
The Briton has reduced Max Verstappen’s margin at the top of the standings from 78 points after Spa to 62 points. With Verstappen making the podium just twice since his last win in June, that buffer does not feel as significant as it looks on paper.
That Oscar Piastri robustly challenged Norris, taking the lead on the opening lap from him, is one thing. Team principal Andrea Stella said they would study the footage and data from that and work out how to proceed in future races, without fully defining the “papaya rules” that the McLaren drivers are asked to race by.
The more egregious oversight is that they declined to swap Piastri and Norris on the final lap, even as it became clear that the Australian had no chance of catching winner Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
The three extra points he would have gained had McLaren inverted their cars could be crucial in the coming months. The switch was not on for much of the race, with Leclerc between the two McLaren cars, but by the end it would have been a tough, but clear, decision to make. These are the possibilities and scenarios the team should be discussing before the race.
Of course, no driver wants to move over for his teammate, especially when he had driven the better race and the team – particularly McLaren – are reluctant to ask. Yet the fact Stella said they did not even consider doing this is worrying.
Oscar Piastri finished second and Lando Norris third at Monza.Credit: Getty Images
As has been the case for much of the season, their development rate seems to be outpacing if not their ambition exactly, then at least their own perception of where they are. They need to recognise they are in contention for two championships and take the hard decisions.
Piastri benefited from Norris following team orders – though it looked like he might not – at the Hungarian Grand Prix, which secured him a maiden victory. That should give McLaren some cash in the bank if the request came in for him to play second fiddle to his teammate. Not that it makes it an easy discussion.
These opportunities do not come very often for McLaren.
McLaren clearly want the drivers to be able to race on track. Stella, from his lengthy time at Ferrari, knows all too well the consequences and bad feeling that can come from insisting on team orders and engineering results between two drivers. This far out in the championship it can become complicated and messy, and has the potential to create disorder, which eventually comes at the team’s expense.
Stella and his team should be given enormous credit for even being in this position. But such is the fickle and volatile nature of F1, there is no guarantee they will be in as good a place in 2025 as they are now.
Keeping driver harmony is important, but the bottom line of any team is winning championships.
Though the constructors’ championship brings in the money, the drivers’ title brings in the glory. Who really remembers or cares that McLaren’s last drivers’ championship in 2008 was not backed up with the constructors’? McLaren must now start making the difficult decisions.
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.