{"id":328167,"date":"2025-12-04T23:02:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T23:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/328167\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T23:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T23:02:12","slug":"lando-norris-rules-out-asking-mclaren-for-team-orders-to-help-f1-title-bid-formula-one-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/328167\/","title":{"rendered":"Lando Norris rules out asking McLaren for team orders to help F1 title bid | Formula One 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lando Norris would not want McLaren to have to use team orders to aid him in winning his first world championship at the season finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Both he and his teammate, Oscar Piastri<\/a>, insisted they had not yet discussed the potential use of orders for the decisive grand prix.<\/p>\n

Norris goes into the 24th and final race of the season as favourite but still in a close, high-pressure fight with Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen<\/a> and Piastri, enjoying a 12-point lead on Verstappen and 16 on Piastri. Norris will take his first title if he finishes in front of both his rivals or claims third place or better. Verstappen would need to win and hope Norris finishes outside the podium places while Piastri would need to win and have Norris finish sixth or lower.<\/p>\n

The question of team orders and McLaren\u2019s attempts to be scrupulously fair to both drivers by allowing them to race has been a major point of debate all season. However, when asked about the possibility of team orders being implemented for Piastri to cede to Norris should Verstappen otherwise be able to win, the British driver insisted he believed it would not be fair to ask his teammate to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, not been discussed,\u201d he said. \u201cHonestly, I would love it. But I don\u2019t think I would ask it. It\u2019s up to Oscar if he would allow it. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessarily down to me. It\u2019s the same if it\u2019s the other way around.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould I be willing to or not? Personally, I think I would, just because I feel like I\u2019m always like that and that\u2019s just how I am. But it\u2019s not really up to me and I\u2019m not going to ask it. I don\u2019t want to ask it because I don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessarily a fair question. If that\u2019s how it ends and Max wins, then, well, that\u2019s it. Congrats to him and I look forward to next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s position has always been that they would let their driver\u2019s race freely while both were still in the title fight. However, they have intervened in order to maintain pre-agreed arrangements. At Monza, McLaren had Piastri cede a place to Norris<\/a>, which the British driver lost through a slow pit stop.<\/p>\n

After the last round in Qatar the McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella, said the team would discuss relevant scenarios so all parties were clear going into the final round. There is no doubt McLaren want to secure their first world championship since 2008, when Lewis Hamilton won<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The most likely scenario where Piastri might be required to give way to his teammate would be if Verstappen was leading with Piastri third and Norris fourth and the pair switching would ensure the British driver secured the title.<\/p>\n

With the three title protagonists lined up together in the press conference at the Yas Marina circuit on Thursday, sat beside the trophy one of them will win on Sunday night, Piastri added that he had yet to be apprised of the team\u2019s expected position.<\/p>\n

The three title protagonists Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri alongside the trophy one of them will lift on Sunday. Photograph: Clive Rose\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something we\u2019ve discussed,\u201d he said. \u201cUntil I know what\u2019s expected, I don\u2019t really have an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aware of the importance of the weekend, McLaren cancelled Norris\u2019s usual session of speaking to the British media, which takes place on the Thursday before every race, with the 26-year-old doubtless happy to not have to answer more questions about his title chances. However, in the official press conference he did address what it would mean to him to win it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been my whole life, it\u2019s everything I\u2019ve worked towards my whole life, so it would mean the world to me, it would mean the world to everyone that\u2019s supported and pushed me for the 16 years of my life,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would mean everything. It would mean my life until now has been a success and I\u2019ve accomplished that dream I had when I was a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercedes\u2019 George Russell, meanwhile, said it would be \u201cunacceptable\u201d to ask Piastri to move aside and sacrifice his own title ambitions even if that meant Verstappen won the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s acceptable or reasonable to ask a driver who\u2019s also in a shot of a championship in the very last race to move over for your teammate,\u201d Russell said. \u201cThey both need to be given a shot and if they lose out because of it, you just need to say the other guy did a better job and that\u2019s racing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lando Norris would not want McLaren to have to use team orders to aid him in winning his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-328167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}