Major McLaren U-turn as stance on demanding team orders changes

McLaren will use team orders to boost Lando Norris’ F1 title bid in the remaining races of the 2024 season.

The British squad have so far been reluctant to favour one driver over another this season and have only instilled ‘Papaya Rules’ - McLaren’s rules of engagement instruction for their drivers to race each other with no risks.

But with Norris cutting Max Verstappen’s championship advantage down to 62 points in recent weeks, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has now confirmed the Briton will be prioritised over teammate Oscar Piastri, who is fourth in the standings and 106 points adrift of Verstappen.

"The overall concept is we are incredibly determined to win, but we want to win in the right way,” Stella told BBC Sport. "We [will] bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles.

"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 said they would review their stance on team orders after they refused to interfere with a first-lap battle between Norris and Piastri at the Italian Grand Prix last time out.

The McLaren duo had locked out the front row of the grid at Monza but Piastri and Norris squabbled for position on the opening lap and ended up losing out on the win to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

"What we don't want to see any more is a situation like in Monza in which we enter a chicane P1/P2 and we exit P1/P3. Because that is a detriment to the team,” Stella explained.

"The team interests comes first and these are the situations that above all we need to fix because eventually, as a matter of fact, the way we entered the race in Monza left the door open this situation.

"After Monza, three objectives: we need to make sure that anything that happens on track is not to the detriment of the team.

"Second objective, how do we win both championships, both drivers committed to help?

"But what we don't want to do is win in a reckless way.

"Those are the three topics and they define the way we go racing in Baku. This will be updated after Baku.”

Stella said Piastri is on board with McLaren’s decision but stressed the team’s main objective is to win the constructors’ championship. McLaren are just eight points behind Red Bull with eight races remaining.

"The conversations have been very collaborative," he said.

"Even when I said to Oscar: 'Would you be available to give up a victory?' He said: 'It's painful, but if it's the right thing to do now, I will do it’.

"Every driver is hard-wired to go for a victory. So I am always very impressed by the level of team spirit and maturity and collaboration that we found in this period."