McLaren’s team orders U-Turn after Lando Norris F1 title bid collapse

Oscar Piastri says McLaren have changed their stance on using team orders with teammate Lando Norris’s F1 title hopes effectively over.

Norris’s ambition of winning this year’s world championship suffered a hammer blow as he slipped from pole position to sixth at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, while title rival Max Verstappen staged an incredible fightback victory from 17th.

The result saw Verstappen extend his championship advantage to 62 points with three races remaining, all but ending Norris’s hopes of winning a first drivers’ title this year.

Verstappen will be crowned world champion at this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix if he leads by at least 60 points after the race.

Norris’s fading championship hopes mean that McLaren will no longer make Piastri, who gave up the sprint win to Norris in Brazil, play a supporting role.

Asked if he would now return to an equal footing with Norris, Piastri told media in Las Vegas: “Pretty much, yes.

“There’s still some, let's say, very specific scenarios where I might be needed to help out. But for the very large majority of situations, it's back to how it was.

“The drivers’ championship picture is very slim, and the constructors’ championship is certainly not over for us.

“It's certainly not a done deal, so that's definitely the biggest thing. So it's a very specific few scenarios that maybe I'll still help out if that's what I'm asked to do, but I'm going into the weekend trying to win.”

McLaren lead Ferrari by 36 points in the constructors’ championship, while Red Bull are 49 points further back in third.

While Piastri was happy to play a supporting role to Norris, he stressed he wants to make sure he doesn’t find himself in the same position next season.

"To be honest, I wasn't that disappointed with giving that up," the Australian added.

"Of course I would have loved to have won the sprint, but a [it is] very different scenario to a grand prix.

"I proved what I wanted to prove, in terms of qualifying on pole, and that was just to myself.

"Qualifying on pole for the sprint, even if I had won the sprint, qualifying on pole was probably the more satisfying thing for me.

"I knew I did the right things in the sprint, and that's good for me.

"I'm happy that we don't have to go into those kind of things as much anymore, and obviously next year, I want to make sure that I'm not in a position, championship wise, to be subject to that.

"But in reality, I probably needed to help out at that one time in Brazil and that's been it. So it's been a lot of talk for not much on-track action."