Zak Brown has said McLaren will use team orders for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri if required to ensure the team secure the Formula One drivers’ championship in the season finale at Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
With Red Bull’s Max Verstappen trailing Norris by 12 points, the Dutchman still has a shot at taking the title from McLaren’s grasp. Piastri is a further four points back. Having spent all season allowing their drivers to race and attempting to be scrupulously fair to both, Brown announced at the Yas Marina circuit that if circumstances rendered it necessary, they would use orders.
“Yes, of course. We’re realistic, we want to win this drivers’ championship,” the McLaren chief executive said. “If we get into the race and it’s becoming pretty clear that one has a chance and the other doesn’t, we’re going to do what we can to win. It would be crazy not to.”
With Norris requiring third place or better to seal his first championship, the most likely scenario involving team orders would require Piastri to give up a place to Norris to guarantee him a podium spot in the event of Verstappen leading the race.
Brown said he was confident both drivers would acquiesce to any instruction from the team, when asked if he believed Piastri would willingly move over for Norris.
“Yes, our drivers have always complied with team wishes just as we comply with their wishes,” he said. “So I’ve got no doubt either of our drivers will continue to race, as they’ve done brilliantly, in the best interests of the team.”
On Thursday in Abu Dhabi Norris and Piastri said they had yet to have any discussion about orders with the team but the team principal, Andrea Stella, had been clear after the last round in Qatar that they would address the issue and come to clear, agreed plans with their drivers. McLaren’s approach to being fair to both drivers has come under considerable scrutiny this season but Brown denied the team were going back on their principles.
“I don’t think it’s a U-turn,” he said. “We’re going to start the weekend like we have the other 23, which is going in giving both drivers equal opportunity. We’ll use common sense. We’re not going to throw away a drivers’ championship over a sixth and a seventh place, a third and a fourth place, a fifth and a sixth place, if one of our drivers doesn’t have the opportunity. We’re just going to stay true to our racing principles. So we’ll see how the race plays out.”
Norris remains favourite but Verstappen goes into the finale with four consecutive drivers’ championship titles under his belt and has recovered from a 104‑point deficit at the Dutch GP in late August. His team principal, Laurent Mekies, paid tribute to him and the team’s achievements.
“Max just never does a mistake,” he said. “He keeps surprising us every day. You throw him out there. Sometimes, the car is great. Sometimes it’s a touch less great than what we would hope and he doesn’t miss a start. He doesn’t miss tyre management, he doesn’t miss an overtake.
“He’s just the way he is. It is true that it gives a lot of confidence to the whole team. It is true that it fits so well with, in general, the approach that this team has on how you go racing, taking maximum risk, accepting the pain when the risk went over the edge.”
Norris topped the time sheets in first practice in Abu Dhabi but by only eight-thousandths of a second. Piastri did not run in the first session, as he had to take his mandatory second time sitting out practice to allow a young driver a chance in the car. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third, only a hundredth of a second off Verstappen.
Norris was once more on top in the second session, appearing confident and dialled in at the Yas Marina circuit. He was three-tenths up on Verstappen in second with Mercedes’ George Russell third and Piastri only in 11th, apparently suffering from balance issues
