Oscar Piastri’s engineer gives McLaren 2007 example in ‘long game’ team orders verdict

Oscar Piastri has been playing a support role for Lando Norris in recent races while he’s been in title contention, but his race engineer Tom Stallard explained how he’s been “very positive in his support for the team.”

Piastri has moved aside for Norris on recent marginal calls for team orders, notably at the last round in Brazil when he gave up Sprint victory for his team-mate, something which Norris himself said he was “not proud of” at the time in the context of the title fight.

Oscar Piastri ‘looking at the long game’ in McLaren team order support

Stallard indirectly referenced the 2007 season at McLaren for an example of how drivers working against each other can be detrimental to the team, when Fernando Alonso and a rookie Lewis Hamilton fought tooth and nail all season long before then-Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen eventually took the World Championship by a single point come the end of the year.

With that in mind, he said the young Australian is looking to the future regarding how he may be helped in a title fight of his own one day, should the shoe be on the other foot – while emphasising the strong team spirit operating at McLaren as it stands.

When asked how Piastri would handle team orders in the context of a World Championship battle, Stallard told a recent episode of the Beyond the Grid podcast: “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.

Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri: McLaren head-to-head stats for F1 2024

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

“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.

“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 Raikkonen wins.

“I think that, from that point of view, Oscar 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.”

Norris fell 62 points behind Verstappen in the F1 2024 title fight after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix with 86 points left remaining, while Piastri is now mathematically out of contention for this year’s crown.

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