Jenson Button weighs in on McLaren team orders debate: “You need to favour one driver”

2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button believes his former team has no choice but to favour Lando Norris if they are to topple Max Verstappen in this year’s world championship.

Ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Norris is 52 points behind Verstappen with six rounds to go.

The points gap means that Verstappen can afford to finish second at every race - including sprints - to become a four-time F1 world champion.

If Verstappen wins this year’s title, Norris will be left to rue a number of poor McLaren strategy calls and lack of team orders.

Norris was forced to give Oscar Piastri the win in Hungary after taking it through the pit stop phase.

At Monza, while they were free to race, Piastri’s aggressive overtake into the second chicane left Norris vulnerable to Leclerc.

Giving his view on the situation at McLaren, Button told the Sky F1 podcast: “I love that there's no team orders because as a racing driver you hate them. But at some point, if you want to win a world championship, you need to favour one driver.

“Especially at this point in the championship where every single point counts right now. For Lando, if he has any opportunity of becoming a world champion in 2024, he needs every single point. And, you know, that's even using Oscar to grab the fastest lap if Max has got it in a race.

“So it's a really tricky situation for a driver, for drivers in a team and for a team. But it's got to happen. You know, that's the reason why Ferrari won so many world championships with Michael Schumacher. In a way why Vettel was able to win so many world championships.

“I think that sometimes you've got to bite the bullet and you need to favour one driver, especially at this point of the season. Oscar's done an amazing job this year, but Lando has more points and a good amount more points. If the team want to win, not just the constructors' but the drivers' as well this year, that's what's going to have to happen.”

McLaren have a comfortable lead in the constructors’ championship over Red Bull, with 41 points between the two teams.