McLaren ‘politics’ claim made after Oscar Piastri’s team order request in Japan

F1 pundit James Hinchcliffe believes McLaren’s decision to keep Oscar Piastri behind Lando Norris at the Japanese Grand Prix was to avoid there being “politics down the road”.

McLaren saw their cars finish second and third at Suzuka on Sunday, behind race winner Max Verstappen.

The result means that Norris remains at the top of the F1 drivers’ championship by one point.

Japan was a missed opportunity for McLaren, who had the fastest car at Suzuka.

However, both drivers underperformed in qualifying, allowing Verstappen to take a surprise pole position.

With overtaking difficult in the race, neither Norris nor Piastri could progress from their starting positions.

During the closing part of the race, it looked like Piastri had the pace to challenge Verstappen if Norris wasn’t in his way.

Piastri remained in DRS range for several laps but couldn’t get past his teammate.

The Australian hinted over team radio that he wanted McLaren to order Norris to move out of the way to give him a shot at Verstappen.

Speaking after the race, Hinchcliffe, a former IndyCar driver, explained why McLaren prioritised team harmony by dismissing Piastri’s request.

“By not attempting the swap, to me, tells me that they are prioritising the drivers’ championship over the constructors’ in the sense that by not allowing Oscar the opportunity to get in front of Max which then puts a bigger buffer between him and Lando. Lando earned that second place,” Hinchcliffe said.

“So if the team got involved, all of a sudden that’s a 10-point swing in the drivers’ championship and to me, the reason they didn’t want to do that was the politics down the road of trying to sort out points to drivers. It would almost feel like they were prioritising Oscar this early in the campaign over Lando.

“It seems like a bit of a statement that they can afford to sacrifice a few points in the constructors’ championship if it means we’re not going to get into a sticky situation with both our drivers.”

McLaren open the door for Verstappen

With McLaren’s drivers continuing to take points off each other, it could open the door for Verstappen in the F1 title race.

Norris won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix from pole position.

The British driver resisted late-race pressure from Verstappen to win at Albert Park.

It was Piastri’s turn to win in China.

He controlled the race from the front of the grid to beat his teammate.

Verstappen has now made it three different winners in three races - and is in the fight for the title.

While Verstappen has struggled with the RB21's inconsistent nature, he continues to extract the maximum from it as he looks to win his fifth consecutive title in 2025.