Norris is second in the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship standings, just 62 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
McLaren will prioritize Lando Norris over teammate Oscar Piastri in their bid to snatch both world championships in Formula 1.
McLaren’s resurgence in Formula 1 means the squad has slashed Red Bull Racing’s advantage in the Constructors’ Championship from 115 points at its peak to just eight.
The team accepted after the last event in Italy that the Drivers’ Championship is now also a realistic ambition. Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen still leads the standings with eight events—including three Sprint races—remaining in 2024. Norris is second in the championship, 62 points behind Verstappen, with fourth-placed Piastri 106 back.
“We [will] bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella told BBC Sport. “Our principles are that the team interest always comes first. Sportsmanship for us is important in the overall way we go racing. And then we want to be fair to both drivers.”
McLaren has so far been reluctant to issue team orders, applying them only on occasion when one driver was unfairly strategically advantaged, most prominently in Hungary, when Norris was instructed to cede track position he gained through the pit stop cycle to Piastri.
In Italy, Piastri passed Norris on the opening lap in a situation which allowed Charles Leclerc to also slip past Norris.
Leclerc went on to use a one-stop strategy to beat the McLaren pair, with Piastri second, and Norris third, while Verstappen was an uncompetitive sixth as he sounded the alarm bells about his and Red Bull’s title prospects.
Stella said McLaren had held “very collaborative” conversations with both drivers since the last race, outlining that Norris will be prioritized, but cautioning that the Briton is not expecting to be given overtly preferential treatment.
Speaking on Thursday, Piastri told broadcasters: “Naturally as a driver it’s never I guess an easy thing or a simple thing to agree to, but there’s a much bigger picture at play than just myself.
“I’m still coming out here to try and achieve the best results I can, to put myself in a good position to score a lot of points for first myself and also the team but I know that if there’s some ways of helping the points for Lando then I will do that.”
