McLaren reveal what’s next for Oscar Piastri if placed into Lando Norris support role

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said that, if Oscar Piastri is asked to support Lando Norris in a title bid, that help is an “investment” for himself and his future with the team.

Norris is best placed to challenge Max Verstappen for the title as it stands, 62 points behind the Dutchman with eight rounds to go, though Piastri, 44 points further back, has not yet given up hope of launching a late title bid of his own after finishing ahead of Norris at Monza at the weekend.

Oscar Piastri in support role for title run would be ‘massive boost’ to McLaren

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has said throughout the season that his team has ‘two number one drivers’, in keeping with McLaren’s history, though questions regarding a potential title push for Norris are increasing given the sizeable gap to Verstappen in front and only a third of the season remaining.

With McLaren only eight points behind Red Bull in the Constructors’ fight and now favourites to overtake them as it stands, Stella said he wants to ensure that “fairness” is at the heart of his decision-making as team principal.

Having hinted that the team could be set to back Norris over Piastri this year, saying “we do want to give it a go at the championship with Lando”, should that happen, the team boss said if the Australian plays second fiddle for the remainder of the season, it would be for the greater good of the team.

“I think it will be if the things we say are sensible, according to the principles I said before, like fairness, because it’s also fairness that, if you support your team-mate, winning the championship for the team is a big boost,” Stella explained to media including PlanetF1.com when asked what sort of response he would expect from Piastri if the team favour Norris in the title fight.

“If we win both championships, it’s a massive boost, and it benefits for a big boost of the team, even if he is the other driver, okay, because we don’t have to forget that Oscar is in the middle of his second season in Formula 1.

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“The future is Oscar’s, okay? You need to make sure that when it’s the time to support, even the support he gives to the team or to Lando, for him it’s an investment.”

A new term entered the Formula 1 lexicon in Monza as McLaren established ‘papaya rules’ with their drivers.

Stella revealed after the race that these rules of engagement are subject to change dependent on the needs of the team, but when asked for further details on what instructions were given to his drivers, he refused to give too much away.

“I don’t want to be more specific, because ultimately, even the way you go racing, the conversations and the agreements you have with your driver, they are part of your IP [intellectual property],” he said.

“I think we want to be open, we want to be transparent, give everyone also some understanding of what is going on, but we want to retain some sort of confidentiality for ourselves.

“I think I’ve given already enough of the sense of how these rules are generated, because we want to retain integrity and fairness in the way we go racing.

“We want to apply common sense, but at the same time, we definitely need to be in the quest for both championships.”

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