For the first time since 2008 when Lewis Hamilton won, McLaren are back in the hunt for the drivers’ championship. On seeing his former team in such a strong position with the fastest car, Hamilton is feeling quite happy as well. Ahead of the Azerbaijan GP, the seven-time champion expressed his delight for the Woking team while backing his “old family” to overcome the challenges they are facing.
Speaking in a media interview in Baku, Hamilton said, “McLaren is my old family and I’m very happy to see them up there. It’s been a long time since they were in that position, so it’s new for them”. The Briton touched upon how the team’s personnel has changed a lot since he won the championship for them 15 years ago.
“im not running the team so i cant say”
— sim (@sim3744) September 12, 2024
So, it is naturally a new challenge for McLaren to figure out the challenge of being a frontrunner. Still, Hamilton praised them. He said, “I think they’ve managed it well and it’s normal when you’re fighting for wins and the World Championship to make mistakes.”
The Briton stated that since he is not in charge of the team, he cannot accurately comment on the recent team orders fiasco. He stated that it is natural for them to take a few races to figure out when they should or shouldn’t let their drivers race.
Nevertheless, the Woking team will ideally have to iron out these issues with each passing race. At the Azerbaijan GP weekend, there are reports of McLaren looking to prioritize Lando Norris’ drivers’ championship bid by implementing team orders.
McLaren’s dilemma of breaking their ‘equal drivers’ narrative
While Oscar Piastri has been equal on pace with Norris for the most part, the latter has a better shot at winning the drivers’ title this season with eight races left. McLaren have also finally understood this and have asked Piastri to help the Briton from Baku onwards.
Even Piastri has been stating that he is willing to help his teammate’s title bid if the team asks him. Now that the team has done so, the Aussie is also staying on the same page as them.
Team player #F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/3mX8Jt4qmP
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 12, 2024
While Norris prefers to not have any team orders and win the championship on his merit, the standings’ permutations are forcing him to take all the available help. Still, the Briton doesn’t feel it is fair of the team to ask Piastri to play second fiddle to him.
Even McLaren were putting forth a similar argument until Monza. However, after the kind of opportunity they missed at the Italian GP weekend, not implementing team orders would not make sense for their championship challenge.
