McLaren respond to criticism of 'grey area' team order to Lando Norris
"Lando in particular, who is in the stronger position - he will need the support of Oscar and the team."
McLaren F1 team principal Andrea Stella has openly admitted his team need to be more clear when communicating with their drivers after drama around team orders ensued at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
McLaren led a comfortable 1-2 at the Hungaroring with Oscar Piastri leading Lando Norris.
In a bid to maintain track position over Lewis Hamilton, McLaren decided to pit Norris first and thus undercut Piastri, giving him crucial track position.
This meant Piastri was second - rather than the lead on track - after he was stopped after Norris.
Norris opened the gap up to around six seconds over Piastri despite being urged by McLaren to lift off and surrender the lead.
Norris ultimately obeyed team orders but the whole fiasco, caused by McLaren, took the gloss off Piastri’s maiden win.
During their interview with Sky after the race, 2016 F1 world champion Nico Rosberg had the following advice for Stella and McLaren.
Rosberg said: “I strongly recommend that in managing this intra-team battle between two drivers, you need to be extremely clear and firm. There were the words ‘at your convenience, Lando’.
“That, for a driver, leaves the door very wide open. It’s a grey area. So that’s my strong recommendation - very clear, strong instruction from the pitwall to the drivers otherwise you end up in a bunch of difficulties. I talk from experience.”
Stella responded: “I take your recommendation. We will make good use of it.”
Stella was keen to reiterate the point of teamwork and the fact that Norris will need Piastri’s help in the future if he’s going to topple Max Verstappen in this year’s championship.
“I think there was a little more than a single comment, or message, from Will. There is an approach to racing that we have with our drivers, our team. We are on this trajectory together,” he explained.
“None of us - the team, Lando, Oscar - can go alone. That’s the message we discussed on Sunday morning. With drivers, you need to refresh this message. That’s why we have this meeting every Sunday. We are extremely pleased with how our drivers are supporting this trajectory of McLaren, which is incredible. For me, that’s the news today.
“We can talk more about Lando and Oscar but the message is that there’s a P1 and P2 in qualifying, and P1 and P2 in the race. Incredible. I don’t know any race driver who, when he’s leading a race, says ‘yes of course, why don’t we swap back positions!’ That’s not possible, that’s not the nature of a driver. I’d be very concerned if Lando said so. That’s why we needed to recall our principals.
“For a driver, if you want to be competitive in the championship - Lando in particular, who is in the stronger position - he will need the support of Oscar and the team. That’s how we are moving forwards.”
McLaren sit just 51 points off Red Bull in the F1 constructors' championship ahead of next weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.
