Oscar Piastri says it is too early for him to consider playing a support role to help Lando Norris’ Formula 1 world title bid.
Off the back of an upswing in form for McLaren, Norris has an outside chance of snatching the championship from the grasp of current leader Max Verstappen.
But, with him still 70 points adrift of his Red Bull rival in the drivers’ standings, it is clear that he needs all the help he can get if he is to pull off the feat.
The situation has prompted suggestions that McLaren should impose team orders and make Norris the clear number one – moving team-mate Piastri into a supporting role considering he is 116 points adrift of Verstappen.
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McLaren itself does not want to intervene at the moment, and would instead prefer its drivers to decide themselves when the time is right for them to help their team-mate.
Piastri understands that when the opportune moment comes he will be more than happy to offer his assistance, but he thinks right now is too early.
“I'm still going into the weekends to try and win the races,” said the Australian.
“We [McLaren] are still behind in the constructors' championship and we want to make sure that we win that. My best contribution to that is by trying to win the race.
“The gap is still very big between Lando and Max. And even for myself, it's even bigger to Max, but it's not impossible. So we'll take it on a case-by-case basis every weekend.
“Of course, if the gap [between Norris and Verstappen] gets significantly smaller, and I'm not so much in the picture, then I'm aware that I could be called upon to try and help out.
“But I think with the gap, how it is at the moment, it's still very, very early for that.
“Ultimately, I want to go out and win races as well. But I know that if I do get called upon, then I'll be happy to help out.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has repeatedly said that he is reluctant to impose team orders at this stage, because he thinks it would be unhealthy for the squad’s spirit.
“Our approach is to be fair, to have integrity in the way we go racing,” he said after the Dutch GP.
“And I keep saying that I've known no driver that wants to be number one [because] of a contract. Drivers want to be number one because they are fast on track.
“When you are fast on track, definitely you want to be supported by the team - when it's a 50/50 decision, or you have eight good weekends, and it's a weekend in which you are struggling a little bit, then that weekend the team can assist, right?
“We have nine races ahead of us, and if we create a number one driver, then what do we do? All the favours to the number one driver? This is not a healthy way of running a team.”
Stella does concede, however, that there may be some circumstances in the approach to race weekends where it makes sense to take decisions that are in favour of Norris.
“For every race, we will analyse the situations and, in the 50/50 situations, or in those cases in which - in this case, Lando may need a bit of extra support from the team - we are going to give it,” he said.
“But the team includes Oscar. The team should not do things that don't look reasonable to Oscar. We are in this together.
“You don't go as a team and a driver and the other driver kind of follows. He needs to be part of this conversation, and he needs to be in agreement with what we think is the way forward.”
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