McLaren team boss Andrea Stella stressed that there is no No. 1 driver in his team, but assured that they are not afraid to give preference to a competitor.
The Woking-based team is currently aiming for its first F1 title in 16 years and has significantly reduced the gap to Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship in recent months, which now stands at 30 points.
The battle for the drivers’ title is becoming more difficult, as Lando Norris is 70 points behind Max Verstappen with nine races to go.
Stella has assured that McLaren is not bowing to the situation regarding the team arrangement and stated that they are in ongoing discussions on the matter.
“We always have discussions about team instructions from the first race because you always want to go into a race with clarity about how we will handle the internal competition between the two drivers,” Stella told the media, including RacingNews365.
“The discussions about team instructions take place throughout the season. But then you have to have these discussions in the context of what the driver classification is, for example.
“In general, our approach is to be fair and have integrity in the way we race.
“I keep saying that I don’t know any driver who wants to be number one when their contract ends. Drivers want to be number one because they are fast on the track.
“And when you’re fast on the track, you definitely want the team to support you when it’s a 50-50 decision or you have eight good weekends and then a weekend comes along where you’re struggling a bit. Then the team can help.”
McLaren could prefer Norris
Although Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri has not yet mathematically been eliminated from the drivers’ championship, his best chances currently seem to lie with the winner of last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Stella suggested that Norris could be preferred over Piastri in the coming races to increase the chances of winning the title.
“We have nine races to go and we create a number one driver – and then what do we do? Give all the favours to the number one driver?
“This is not a healthy way to lead a team. But we analyse the situations for each race.
“And in the 50-50 situations or in the cases where Lando might need some extra support from the team in that case, we will give it to him.
“But Oscar is part of the team. The team shouldn’t do things that Oscar doesn’t think are sensible. We’re in this together.”
“You don’t go out with one team and one driver and the other driver follows him despite everything. He has to be part of this discussion and he has to agree with what we think is the way forward.”
