Two laps to go in Abu Dhabi: Max Verstappen is winning, Oscar Piastri is second, George Russell is third and Lando Norris is fourth. Has Oscar been ordered to let both cars go ahead? -Chris
McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella reiterated after Qatar – as he has done several times this season – McLaren’s policy of fairness towards both drivers, and their determination to give both the opportunity to pursue their goals.
“When it comes to the fact that we have two drivers in the hunt for the world championship, our philosophy and our approach will not change,” Stella said.
“From one point of view, Oscar is definitely in a position to win the title. We have seen before in the history of Formula 1 that when you have a situation like this, sometimes third (going into the last race in the championship) actually wins.
“I think we saw it in 2007, in 2010. And Oscar is fast, he deserves to be able to feel his performance.
“We will put the drivers in a position to race each other, but above all, what is important for us is that we are in a position to beat Verstappen with one of our two drivers.”
McLaren want to be fair to both drivers, but they also want to ensure that one of their drivers wins the title.
This means some interesting complications could arise during the race.
In the scenario outlined, no matter what order Piastri and Mercedes’ Russell take, Verstappen will win the title, tied on points with Norris but with one more win.
But if Piastri went ahead and let Norris move to third, Norris would be the champion.
Also, it’s worth keeping in mind that Piastri winning the race could help Norris win the title, because in that scenario, Norris would only need to finish fifth, even if Verstappen finished second.
The entire culture of McLaren is based on transparency and honesty. It is also based on talking and making sure that all possible scenarios are considered ahead of time.
But what will be the outcome of those discussions? Will McLaren ask Piastri to do the same? Definitely yes.
Given how strongly both McLaren drivers have expressed their commitment to the team and their culture this season, would Piastri volunteer to do the same?
Obviously, I don’t and can’t know the answer.
If they don’t, it would risk undoing everything the drivers and team owners have said and worked on all year.
But the stress of the title decider can cloud judgment for anyone, in or out of the car.
Let’s not forget that something similar happened in the situation Stella cites – 2007.
At the final race in Brazil, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was leading the race until the final pit stop, with his teammate Kimi Räikkönen in second.
Had they finished in the same order, and the rest of the positions remained the same, Lewis Hamilton would have taken the title for McLaren, having been level on points with teammate Fernando Alonso, but won on countback.
So Ferrari manipulated their pit stops allowing Räikkönen to take the win and the title.
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