Max Verstappen .Has weighed in on the entire situation at McLaren where Oscar Piastri would have to obey team orders to help Lando Norris. He claimed that he would not have followed the orders if he were in Piastri’s place. The 2024 F1 season has been very intriguing because of systematic fluctuations in the pecking order.
After Verstappen began the season successfully, things took a turn when McLaren introduced its major upgrade package and skyrocketed to the top of the pecking order. This was followed by Mercedes winning three races and Ferrari chipping in as well in between.
Verstappen has seen Norris eat into his championship lead in every race post the summer break. With six races left and the gap between the top 2 drivers in the championship at 52 points, McLaren has said that the team would impose team orders if Piastri is ahead of his teammate. Verstappen also weighed in on the debate and said that he would have declined any such request from the team.
He also added that a driver of Piastri’s caliber should not be forced to do something like this and should not be giving up wins and positions. He told Autosport,
“For me he’s definitely not a [number two driver] and if I was him I would never accept it. For me it’s easy to talk, of course, because I’ve been in Formula 1 for 10 years and it’s Oscar’s second season, so it is always harder to put your foot down. But he’s just a great F1 driver who doesn’t deserve it to give up wins and positions and play second fiddle because he’s asked to.”
Max Verstappen’s adversary Lando Norris on the team order situation at McLaren
Max Verstappen’s title adversary at the moment, Lando Norris, who would be the benefactor of the McLaren team orders, echoed the thoughts of the Dutch driver as he said that he doesn’t want to win the title this way.
Talking about how he wanted to win the title by beating his rivals on track and by proving he’s the best, Norris said:
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“If a driver is doing better than me and performing, I need to do a better job, so I wouldn’t want to take that away from someone. I also don’t want to be given a championship. Yes, it would be great to have a championship, and on the short term you feel amazing, but I don’t think you’d be proud of that in the long run. I want to win it by beating Max, beating my competitors, and proving that I’m the best on track.”
Heading into Austin, a lot will depend on how good the car would be with the new upgrades and if it can be a challenge to McLaren.
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