McLaren To Prioritize Norris As Stella Issues Update On Papaya Rules

Thursday, 12 September 2024 at 10:57

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella issued an update on the McLaren team order rules, explaining that Lando Norris will receive more support from now on.

McLaren Racing F1 team received a lot of criticism following the 16th round of the season at Monza Circuit. The team didn't manage its drivers appropriately, losing the victory and compromising its position in both Championships.

The main concern of most pundits, fans, and F1 experts was that they thought the British team should support Lando Norris (who might win the Drivers' title) much more.

The 24-year-old must gain considerable points (more than 7,75 on average) on Max Verstappen every weekend if he wants to win.

While it is within reach, he will likely need help from his teammate Oscar Piastri. Speaking to BBC ahead of the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Andrea Stella gave an update on how his team plans to approach the situation with their two drivers:

"We [will] bias our support to Lando, but we want to do it without compromising our principles too much."

Read also

Norris Winning Title Would Make Formula E CEO Donate $250,000 To Charity

"Our principles are that the team interest always comes first. Sportsmanship for us is important in the overall way we go racing. And then we want to be fair to both drivers."

Stella continued to clarify that risky overtakes like the one Piastri performed on Norris during the 2024 Italian Grand Prix are now unacceptable.

"What we don't want to see anymore is a situation like in Monza in which we enter a chicane P1/P2, and we exit P1/P3. Because that is a detriment to the team."

"The team interests comes first and these are the situations that above all we need to fix because eventually, as a matter of fact, the way we entered the race in Monza left the door open this situation."

Many fans already see McLaren as the clear winner of the Constructors' Championship. However, even if Red Bull didn't regain their competitiveness until the end of the season, Ferrari is only 31 points behind.

This means that the Papaya team still needs to be very careful with the management of their drivers. While McLaren wants to win both Championships, Stella clarified that the Constructors' Championship is the priority.

"After Monza, three objectives: we need to make sure that anything that happens on track is not to the detriment of the team. Second objective, how do we win both championships, both drivers committed to help?"

"But what we don't want to do is win in a reckless way. Those are the three topics and they define the way we go racing in Baku. This will be updated after Baku."

What did Paistri say about McLaren team orders?

Is Oscar Piastri prepared to collaborate? According to Stella, the Australian will support his teammate, and he even said he would give up a victory for him if necessary. He added:

"The conversations have been very collaborative. Even when I said to Oscar: 'Would you be available to give up a victory?' He said: 'It's painful, but if it's the right thing to do now, I will do it'."

"Every driver is hard-wired to go for a victory. So I am always very impressed by the level of team spirit and maturity and collaboration that we found in this period."