Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen shut down talk of McLaren team orders to prioritise Norris for drivers’ championship

“So yeah, if you’re a real winner and a racer, as a driver, then you go for it, even if you are behind. What’s the point otherwise to turning up? Otherwise, you can easily just label yourself as a No 2 driver, which I think he doesn’t want to be…”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella had already clarified earlier in the day that there was no intention of favouring Norris, aware that there is a faction on social media who have accused the team of just that.

“No, there is no reason to [favour Norris],” the Italian said in a Q&A released by the team on Thursday. “We have always said that as long as the maths does not say otherwise, we would leave it up to the two drivers to fight for their chance at the final victory, and that is how it will be in Qatar.

“Let’s not forget that if someone had told us at the start of the season that we would find ourselves in this situation with two races to go, we would have signed up for it. Now we are going to fight for the double world championship with confidence and awareness of our strength.”

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Norris said he would not expect Piastri to help him, nor would he want him to. He has beaten his team mate at every race since Zandvoort and said he would not treat this weekend any differently from Las Vegas, despite this being his first ‘match point’ – the first time he can put the title race to bed.

“Nope,” Norris said. “The gap before [Vegas] was 24 points, and it is still 24. Nothing needs to change. We were still quick last weekend, and would have been quicker without the issues. We know Red Bull have been quick lately, and we expect them to be quick here and next weekend, too. Nothing needs to change from anyone’s side. We have treated Max and Red Bull as a great team and competitor all season.”

Of his disqualification last weekend, for rear plank wear, parts of which were just 0.07mm over the limit, Norris was philosophical.

“It’s the rules,” he shrugged. “Of course it hurt, because there is a lot of effort that goes into a weekend and it made all that effort disappear very quickly. Everyone at McLaren feels let down, and we are disappointed. But I found it easy to move on.”

McLaren apologised to their drivers after that race, and Stella explained in his Q&A that the “unexpected occurrence of extensive porpoising” on the street circuit in Las Vegas had been the main issue.

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