McLaren’s senior management confirmed that they did not ask Lando Norris to hand his team mate Oscar Piastri the sprint race win.
Norris led the Losail sprint race every lap of the way before allowing Piastri to take the chequered flag first.McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown confirmed after the sprint race that the team had not intended to always swap positions at the end.
“That was not the plan all along,” he admitted to the official F1 channel. “The plan all along was to try and finish one-two. It was a close race that was 19 laps of no [finger]nails. That was Lando’s decision. And good on him.”
Piastri had let Norris pass him to win the sprint race in Brazil four weeks ago. “Lando and Oscar have been great team mates and I think it just showed how much they were helping each other and, ultimately, racing for the team,” said Brown. “Oscar helped Lando out a little bit in Brazil and I think Lando said ‘thank you’.”
Norris was asked to back off strategically during the race to keep his team mate inside his DRS range to help Piastri fend off George Russell behind him. The team also ran with a draggier rear wing to benefit their performance through Losail’s corners, team principal Andrea Stella explained.
“We had a rear wing configuration which was good in the corners but made us a little bit slow in the straights, especially with this headwind,” Stella told Sky. So the race today required a bit of collaboration between our two drivers with Lando supporting Oscar through the DRS, which was executed very well – very brilliant driving by Lando to help Oscar defend from George.
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“When it comes to the swap at the end, Lando was very willing to return the favour that Oscar did to him in Brazil. We actually wanted to release the pressure off Lando by saying on the radio that we were happy to finish in this order, but Lando managed to find the opportunity to return the favour.
“Once again it shows the collaboration, the unity, the cohesion that we have at McLaren is a point of strength and is the foundation to keep staying in this quest for the championship.”
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mog
30th November 2024, 20:44
Lando has lost traction with the fans this year, this is excellent PR. A point that is not lost on him or McLaren I’d wager.
DMC
30th November 2024, 20:59
It’s like look at me how good I am. Don’t think Piastri would want to win like that.And if you are going to do it try and disguise it imho. Don’t think the fans like this either.
Applebook
30th November 2024, 23:31
Why would Oscar not want it? It’s payback for Brazil, where he deserved the win.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
1st December 2024, 2:36
Why wouldn’t the fans like it? He can no longer win the championship. He’s repaying the favour and settling the score. The historical stats have been corrected. All is good.
Aaron
1st December 2024, 12:54
I saw it as Lando playing with the spreadsheet spoken of recently where the team keeps track of how equally the drivers are treated, hoping it carries over from year to year. He’d much rather a favour next year when it matters!