With Lando Norris still very much in the fight with Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ Championship this season, McLaren is doing everything possible to help the Briton gain as many points as possible to close the gap to the Dutchman. So far, even Oscar Piastri has played the team game brilliantly by not putting too much of a fuss in giving the Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint race win to Norris despite starting on the pole and leading most of the race.
However, 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill believes that things could change come the main race. “If they have a repeat of what they’ve had, let’s say Oscar on pole…I don’t think Oscar is going to be quite so keen to give up a grand prix victory,” said Hill via Sky Sports F1. “A Sprint is one thing, but a grand prix could be a big headache. I’m not sure that’s within our makeup as drivers“.
THANK YOU OSCAR pic.twitter.com/YXMnyZ2q26
— Ray (@ln4norris) November 2, 2024
There would be some drivers who would be hesitant to give up any kind of position to their teammate, let alone a victory. Hence, many would consider Piastri‘s decision to play by McLaren’s team orders as very generous. However, as Hill said, a Grand Prix victory would indeed be very difficult for any driver to give up.
After all, the feeling of standing on the podium in front of one’s fans and listening to their country’s national anthem is what most drivers dream of when they make it to F1. While Piastri eventually gave up the position to Norris without any complaints, there was a lot of tension on the McLaren pit wall.
Andrea Stella explains why McLaren took so long to swap their drivers
Although McLaren has done a better job in enforcing team orders now, they are still struggling with their execution. The same was evident during the Sao Paulo GP sprint race when Piastri relinquished the lead to Norris towards the end of the race despite many believing that McLaren had several opportunities even before.
However, Stella believes “the gap never materialized” for them to execute the swap between Piastri and Norris as either Charles Leclerc or Max Verstappen were always within two seconds of the British driver. They eventually swapped their drivers on lap 22 of 24 when yellow flags were waved after Nico Hulkenberg stopped his Haas in the middle of the track.
McLaren’s decision to swap their drivers then almost cost them as Verstappen immediately got to the back of Piastri. One of the key reasons that Piastri may have held onto P2 is that soon after, the FIA introduced the virtual safety car to clear Hulkenberg’s car out of the way and this gave Verstappen less than a lap to pull off a move on the Australian.
