McLaren: Strategies and Team Orders between Norris and Piastri

McLaren and the Delicate Dance of Team Orders: An Analysis of Key Decisions

Formula 1, known for its multiple facets, presents a constant drama: the rivalry between teammates competing for the drivers’ title. This situation, where loyalty to the team clashes with individual ambitions, has become a recurring theme at McLaren, especially with the growing competition between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. In the Italian Grand Prix, the difficulty of maintaining equity between both drivers was evident, but this decision is the result of a year of complex decisions and potential conflicts. Below, we will break down how McLaren has reached this point and the precedents established for the eight races that will decide the 2025 season.

McLaren’s driver, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have been neck and neck in this year’s World Championship.

2024 Hungarian Grand Prix

A little over a year ago, McLaren was still adapting to its winning car. Before the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, Norris only had one victory and Piastri had yet to stand on the top step of the podium. The race at the Hungaroring presented the perfect opportunity for the team to score a second victory in their breakthrough season, but the question of which driver deserved the win became a thorny issue. Norris, who started from pole position, was overtaken by Piastri at the first corner and had to settle for second place. The order remained the same, but McLaren’s victory was threatened by Lewis Hamilton, who was in third place. To protect against a Hamilton undercut, the team ordered Norris to pit first, giving him a fresh tire advantage over Piastri, who took the lead when he emerged from his stop. McLaren made it clear to Norris that they wanted them to swap positions once the two cars had pulled away from the rest, but the British driver was initially reluctant to comply.

• McLaren walking the “fairness” tightrope with Norris, Piastri
• Oscar Piastri: McLaren team order to swap with Lando Norris was “fair”
• 2025 Italian Grand Prix recap: results, highlights, and Verstappen’s victory

“I know you’ll do the right thing,” race engineer Will Joseph said to Norris. “Well, you should have stopped first,” Norris replied.

Will Joseph, McLaren race engineer, and Lando Norris, McLaren driver

With six laps to go and without Norris yielding, Joseph added: “Lando, he can’t catch you. You’ve proven your worth. The way to win a championship isn’t just by yourself. You’ll need Oscar and the team.”

Norris finally complied with the order two laps from the end, securing Piastri’s first victory and McLaren’s one-two finish. Precedent established: The example of Hungary had clear similarities to Sunday’s Monza race, and was even mentioned by Tom Stallard, Piastri’s race engineer, during his radio conversation. In short, if the usual convention of stopping the leading car first is overridden to protect the second car from a rival, any change of position between the McLarens as a result of an out-of-sequence stop is expected to be reversed on the track. It seems fair, but the tension and controversy in the Hungary example increased significantly due to Norris’ initial reluctance to obey the team order.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s McLarens finished on the podium, with the Australian achieving his first victory in an F1 race.

2024 Italian Grand Prix

Red Bull’s problems during the second half of the 2024 season opened the possibility of Norris fighting for the title. Until the Italian Grand Prix, McLaren had vaguely recognized that possibility, but without supporting Norris over Piastri in race situations. That changed after Monza. Norris arrived in Italy in top form after achieving a dominant victory in Zandvoort, and secured pole position ahead of Piastri on the Monza grid. He defended against Piastri’s attack at the first chicane, but the Australian, playing by the team’s “Papaya rules”, which allow drivers to fight for position as long as they avoid a collision, made a clean and decisive move around the outside of Norris to take the lead at the second chicane. Norris, boxed in by his teammate and in an effort to avoid a collision, lost a position to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the exit of the chicane, dropping from the lead to third place in the space of a few corners on the first lap. Leclerc took the victory with a one-stop strategy, while Piastri finished second ahead of Norris, third.

Even though neither of them won, both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris got the pole in Monza.Precedent established: Discussions following Monza led McLaren to agree to support Norris’ title campaign, particularly in situations where there was a 50/50 decision between their drivers. Piastri would not be expected to give up grand prix victories for Norris, but he could be asked to move aside for lower positions. Furthermore, moves that would result in the loss of positions for the team against their rivals, such as Piastri’s in Monza, should be avoided. Piastri, whose own title hopes were slim, accepted the new terms of the race on a pragmatic level. “It’s a lot to ask,” he said at the time. “But obviously I’ve been given a great opportunity to be in this position, both in F1 and at the front of the F1 grid. It’s something that won’t be forgotten, I suppose, in the future. “It will be remembered in the future, and there have been things in the past, whether improvements or strategies in some races, that have always been remembered. That’s our way of racing.” The relative harmony in the team is now perhaps partly linked to Piastri’s willingness to help Norris at the end of the 2024 season.

Brazil Sprint Race 2024

The only time McLaren’s decision to favor Norris in the final stretch of the 2024 season had a direct impact on a result was in the sprint race of the Brazilian Grand Prix. Piastri secured pole and led Norris for the first 22 laps of the race before McLaren asked him to move aside and let his teammate through with two laps to go.

The immediate compliance of Piastri with the order was key, as a late virtual safety car (VSC) threatened to prevent McLaren from making the swap in the last two laps. Norris, clearly uncomfortable with securing the victory through team orders, thanked Piastri after the race. “Yes, I’m not proud of it,” he said. “But we work well as a team. So I thank Oscar, but we have done a great job as a team. Today was the result we wanted. Oscar deserved it, but we are doing what we have to do, so I thank him and the team.” Precedent established: Because McLaren had spent several races talking about their support for Norris’s title bid, the eventual victory in the sprint race lacked real controversy. Perhaps the swap could have happened earlier to minimize an emerging threat from Max Verstappen and the rush to do it before the late VSC; however, ultimately, Norris and Piastri sang from the same roadmap. The fact that it was a sprint race and only resulted in a one-point difference also diminished any controversy, although Norris would not forget the favor.

Qatar Sprint Race 2024

Despite McLaren’s efforts, Verstappen secured the 2024 title at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which meant that Norris and Piastri were again treated as equals for the final two races of the season. But in the first sprint race after Brazil, Norris saw the opportunity to return the favor to his teammate and moved, coming out of the last corner in Qatar to hand the victory to Piastri. The incident was actually a rare occurrence of a McLaren driver disobeying a team order after race engineer Will Joseph told Norris to “finish in this order” in the final stages. This was partly because the move carried some risk, as Piastri had been involved in a battle throughout the race with George Russell, who only finished 0.3 seconds behind Norris when the McLaren drivers made the swap just before the line. Piastri acknowledged Norris’ gesture over the team radio: “Thanks for the teamwork, very grateful.” Precedent established: The change initiated by the driver underscored the sense of fair play between Norris and Piastri, even if it went against the team’s wishes in the final laps. McLaren was involved in a tough battle in the constructors’ championship with Ferrari, which meant that the loss of a single point could have been painful, but the finishing order ultimately brought smiles to the McLaren pit wall, while rewarding Piastri’s fulfillment in Brazil with the victory in the sprint race he deserved. Any scoring between the drivers had been resolved.

2025 Australian Grand Prix

McLaren’s advantage over the rest of the grid this year became immediately clear at the Australian Grand Prix, which opened the season, as Norris and Piastri gained a 16-second lead over Verstappen in drying conditions at Albert Park early in the race. But as they disappeared into the distance, McLaren issued an order on lap 30 for Piastri not to attack Norris until some traffic ahead had passed.

Three laps later, Piastri was told he was allowed to race again, but he had missed a possible opportunity to take advantage of the lapped cars. The incident became a footnote in the history of the inaugural race when Piastri went off track as the rain returned and fell to ninth place at the finish. But it was the first instance in which McLaren tried to control the battle between its two drivers.

Analysis of the 2025 Australian Grand PrixPrecedent established: There was a solid logic in McLaren’s team orders: the conditions at that moment had left only one drying line on the circuit, and both cars were on worn intermediate tires, making it even more treacherous to go wheel to wheel around the lapped cars. But he made it clear how nervous McLaren was with its drivers competing and that, under certain conditions, intervention could not be ruled out. “We had to go through the stragglers and then the updated weather forecast led us to close for a short period of time the internal races between our two drivers until we had clarity regarding the weather prediction,” explained the team director, Andrea Stella, after the race.2025 Canadian Grand PrixFar from a controversy over team orders, the collision between Norris and Piastri in Montreal was an example of how the drivers maturely handled a sensitive point between them. The nature of the collision, which saw Norris crash into the back of Piastri on the pit straight while preparing for an overtake, made things easy, as there was no doubt that Norris was to blame. The British driver immediately apologized over the team radio, while any tension from Piastri was undoubtedly relieved by a 12-point extension of his championship lead. Precedent established: A collision between the drivers had been considered inevitable by many in the team, so Norris assuming the blame helped reduce some of the internal pressure. If the collision had had a greater impact on Piastri’s result, there might have been a greater controversy, but the result ultimately had no impact on the relationship between the drivers.

Austrian Grand Prix 2025

Just one race after Canada, the Austrian Grand Prix provided an example of clean racing between the two McLaren drivers, although Piastri received a warning for an overtaking attempt at Turn 4. The Australian locked a front tire when seeking the inside of Norris at the downhill right-hand turn and momentarily it seemed that it could cause a collision. Norris ultimately held firm and won, with Piastri apologizing for the move at the checkered flag.

Precedent established: McLaren saw the near-accident and Piastri’s subsequent apology as proof of the fair racing standards instilled between the two drivers. It was also an opportunity to point out a lesson learned after Canada. “There was only one situation where the two cars ended up a little too close, when Oscar locked up and ended up very close to Lando,” said Stella. “We gave Oscar this feedback and I want to acknowledge and once again say that I am proud of Oscar, because as soon as he crossed the finish line, he said: ‘I’m sorry for the situation at turn four. My fault. I know what I have to do’. “So I think it’s all very clear. I’m very fresh about how the team reviewed the situation in Canada, which was a benign situation, it was just an error of judgment, and we’ve come out stronger and even more united from there.”2025 British Grand Prix

The British Grand Prix was a rare example of one of the McLaren drivers asking for a team order to be implemented, although without success. Piastri seemed destined to win at Silverstone until he received a 10-second penalty for erratic driving behind the safety car. The stewards’ decision left him behind Norris, which made the Australian feel bad.

“I don’t think the previous penalty was very fair,” Piastri said over the team radio. “I know it’s a big question, but if you don’t think it was fair either, I think we should change back and run.” McLaren finally rejected the request, resulting in Norris securing a significant victory in his home race.

Lando Norris achieved a bittersweet victory at Silverstone.Precedent established: Even when asking the question, Piastri seemed to know what the answer would be. The penalty was the result of his own mistake, and even if McLaren felt that 10 seconds was excessive, it set a clear precedent that it would not intervene to nullify the impact of the stewards’ decision in the races.

However, Stella also pointed out that there were no hard feelings about Piastri raising the question. “We always tell our drivers, don’t keep things in the back of your mind while driving,” he explained. “If you have a point, if you have a suggestion, if you want to let us know what you’re thinking, just say it.”

2025 Hungarian Grand PrixA year after their team orders debacle in Budapest, McLaren again had to explain certain decisions after the race. Although there were no team orders involved, Norris benefited from a poorly favored one-stop strategy to beat Piastri, who was stuck behind Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari with a two-stop strategy, for the victory. Precedent established: By allowing Norris to bet on an alternative strategy, McLaren underscored its policy of free racing between teammates. That not only means letting the drivers fight wheel to wheel for positions, but also the more nuanced balancing act of putting the pursuing driver on a strategy that has the potential to overtake his teammate. “As McLaren Racing, we want to give great races to Formula 1,” said Stella. “We want to give our two drivers the possibility to use, express their talent, pursue their aspirations, their personal success, and this has to happen within the limits of the team’s interest and fairness, sportsmanship and mutual respect. When we have a deviated strategy, when we have different options, I think this is part of racing.”

2025 Italian Grand Prix

The most recent use of team orders by McLaren is perhaps the most controversial of the last two seasons. With Max Verstappen leading Sunday’s race, the pit wall opted to extend the stops of Norris and Piastri as long as possible to benefit from a possible late safety car.

However, that meant Leclerc closed on Piastri before the stops, which led Norris to suggest that McLaren pit Piastri first, although with the caveat “only if he doesn’t get undercut, otherwise I’ll come in first”.

Piastri’s pit stop was one of the fastest of the race and saw him emerge 4.5 seconds ahead of Leclerc. Norris pitted next, but a problem changing the front left tire meant he was stationary for more than five seconds and lost position to Piastri when he rejoined. Two laps later, Piastri was told to give the position back to his teammate, and his race engineer said: “This is the same as Hungary last year, I know it’s painful, but you’ll have five laps left from now on.” Norris went on to take second place ahead of Piastri, reducing the Australian’s lead in the championship to 31 points. Precedent established: Here’s where it gets complicated. By swapping positions, it could be argued that any slow pit stop in the future should be rectified by team orders. But Stella insisted that the crux of the matter wasn’t the slow stop, but that Piastri was given the first pit stop. Seen that way, the decision was consistent with Hungary 2024. “We pursue the team’s interest to capitalize as much as possible, and in the team’s interest we had to go first with Oscar and then with Lando,” Stella said. “But the clear intention was that this was not going to deliver a position swap. So the fact that we went first with Oscar, compounded by the slow pit stop with Lando, led to a position swap. And we thought it was absolutely the right thing to go back to the situation before the pit stop and then let the guys race. This is what we did and this is what we believe complies with our principles.” Added: “We will also review the situation for which it is an isolated slow pit stop. We already have our principles in relation to that. We will review our principles in relation to that. And we will reinforce the direction if this is in agreement with our drivers.” The problem McLaren now faces is making future decisions in line with the increasingly complex web of precedents established in the last two years. However, as has been the case throughout the team’s rise to success, it intends to address the issues openly with the drivers to avoid as many unpleasant surprises as possible.