With the battle for the drivers’ title heating up between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris—who currently sits 52 points behind in second place—questions have been raised regarding the role that his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri could play in determining the outcome of this closely contested championship.
The Woking-based team had already embroiled themselves in a team order controversy at the Hungarian Grand Prix when Piastri, who led most of the race, took his maiden win after Norris was ordered to swap positions with the Australian driver. The McLaren pit wall convinced Norris at the time that he might need to rely on his teammate’s assistance down the road in order to bring the championship trophy home.
With six races and three sprints remaining in the 2024 season, Norris still has a mountain to climb despite the MCL38 being arguably the best car on the grid. In a conversation with Tom Clarkson on the F1 Beyond the Grid Podcast, Piastri’s Olympic silver-medallist race engineer Tom Stallard was asked to shed some light on how it might affect the 23-year-old if he had to give up a win in order to help Norris in his pursuit of the drivers’ championship.
Stallard responded that there are two specific dimensions to the analysis. On the one hand, both drivers have to act in the best interests of McLaren since the top teams—Ferrari in particular—still pose a threat in terms of the constructors’ title.
“I think there’s two aspects to that. The first is that this team is really tight and this team wants the best for the team.
“I know you said we’re sitting pretty in the constructors’ championship. It never feels like that on the inside. As I said before about some of the competitor cars, I mentioned Mercedes and Red Bull, but Ferrari look like a pretty significant challenge in the constructors’ championship as well.
“So we’ve got a lot of work to do just to sew that up.”
On the other hand, the 46-year-old elaborated that while the team intends to secure both championships, this massive accomplishment would require the cooperation of both drivers. Stating that a driver would expect the team to have their back in a title fight, Stallard implied that Piastri cannot count on the team’s advocacy in the future if he refuses to follow team orders and assist his teammate now.
Citing how the 2007 Formula 1 season unfolded with Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen lifting the biggest trophy after McLaren teammates Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso battled each other throughout the season, Stallard remarked that the team cannot afford to have its drivers take points off each other and hurt their chances for the championship after sixteen years.
“The drivers’ championship, then Lando [Norris] is the closest driver to Max [Verstappen] on points and is, therefore at the moment, our best chance of catching him. And obviously as a team, we want to win both. And the team includes both drivers.
“The other thing I would say is that if you’re a driver who thinks you’re going to win drivers’ championships, you want to be in a team that will support you to do that. And so if you are not prepared to help the team achieve that when it’s the other guy, how do you expect the team to treat you when it’s you the next time?
“So not that there has to be a tit-for-tat within that, but simply that there have been plenty of examples of Formula 1 teams where the two drivers just rip strips off each other for the whole season and then at the end of it, Kimi Räikkönen wins.”
Nonetheless, Stallard clarified that the two-time race winner has been really cooperative in that regard and that he is willing to perform the role the team requires of him. Confirming that he is indeed playing the “long game,” the British engineer and former rower commented that Piastri intends to cement his position in the team and witness them achieve the highest glory in Formula 1.
“I think that from that point of view, Oscar [Piastri] has been very, very positive in his support for the team and willingness to support the team in what needs to happen. He’s looking at the long game and genuinely he wants his team to win.”
